Perspectives on past and future AIS research as the journal of information systems turns thirty

This paper complements a panel session pertaining to past and future AIS research that was held during the 2015 American Accounting Association Annual Meeting. There are two main parts to this commentary. First, using text mining techniques on AIS article abstracts for the period 1986–2014, we identify the top research themes across three leading AIS journals (Journal of Information Systems, International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, and Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting). We chart the usage of these themes over time and discuss their shifting popularity. Second, we speculate on the future of AIS research and identify a series of broad research streams that may garner greater importance over the next 30 years. A host of broad research questions accompany the discussion of emerging and anticipated research streams in order to motivate and guide future research.