In conclusion, it is reiterated that this Australian study is the first component in a wider, continuing, longitudinal study of the IS academic discipline around the world. As reflected in the existing literature, owing to its youth, IS has understandably been soul-searching for the past two decades. Information systems as a separate academic discipline is relatively young and yet maturing. The extensive variation observed across the state case studies in curriculum and research foci—as well as the placement and levels of IS in universities in Australia—further attests to its formative stage of evolution. Following are described: 1) the communication of study results; and 2) study limitations.
An initial vehicle for communicating the Australian study results was the December 2006 special issue of the AJIS. A consolidation of the Australian state case studies appears (Gable 2007b) in the September 2007 special issue of CAIS, as the Australian state case study in the Pacific-Asia region multiple case study. Many of the lessons learned in relation to research methods and tools are also reported in a ‘Methodological learnings’ paper (Gable and Smyth 2007) in the same special edition of CAIS.