This study focuses on the evaluation of database as a field of research and examines its intellectual evolution. An extensive literature review of articles published in MIS journals over the last fifteen years shows that MIS researchers have not placed the same level of importance on database issues as have computer scientists. MIS researchers published have only 159 database articles in thirteen of the top MIS journals during the period of 1980-1994. The majority of these articles were conceptual studies of issues that dealt with the design and management of database systems. This publication record is especially low, considering that 12.5% of MIS faculty listed in the 1989, 1992, and 1995
Directories of MIS Faculty
were interested in database research. Of all MIS journals studied,
DATA BASE
and
Information & Management
were found to be more likely than others to publish database articles.