Forums for electronic government scholars: Insights from a 2012/2013 study

•First comprehensive study of scholarly publication outlet preferences in e-government.•Based on bibliometric analysis of the EGOV Reference Library (EGRL) and survey data.•Participants included 80% of the most prolific electronic government (EGOV) scholars.•HICSS EGOV, IFIP EGOV, and dg.o ranked the top three EGOV conferences.•Government Information Quarterly ranked the flagship EGOV journal.•Conferences and journals equally important and reputed in EGOV scholarly community.•Findings to guide publication outlet choices.•Findings also highly relevant to tenure and promotion cases in EGOV scholarship.

Once an academic study domain has accumulated a certain volume of domain-specific knowledge, a number of outlets emerge as preferred outlets for publication. Electronic government research (EGR) is no exception. After developing for some 15 years from its early beginnings in the late 1990s, this multi-disciplinary academic domain appears to have reached exactly this point. With an active researcher community numbering in the hundreds worldwide and a body of over 5500 peer-reviewed manuscripts and books in the English language alone, EGR has grown past its infancy into a discernible and reputable academic endeavor in its own right. While the Electronic Government Reference Library (EGRL) provides a comprehensive account of the peer-reviewed EGR literature, the preferences of publication outlets had not been studied. This study closes this gap, and it provides clues for assessing the reputation and quality of scholarly work in EGR, which is highly relevant for decisions in tenure and promotion cases.