Special Issue of Information Systems Research: Generative AI and New Methods of Inquiry

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is rapidly reshaping not only organizations, markets, and technologies, but also the practice of scientific research itself. Large language models, multimodal foundation models, and increasingly agentic AI systems now participate in activities such as literature discovery, theorizing, data analysis, simulation, coding, and writing.

This Special Issue (SI) seeks papers that push the boundaries of what can be achieved through innovative, rigorous, and responsible use of Generative AI in the information systems research process. Rather than focusing on GenAI solely as an object of empirical study, the SI emphasizes GenAI as a research collaborator, instrument, and infrastructure.

The ambition of the SI is twofold:

• To publish a small number of exemplary papers that demonstrate novel research capabilities enabled by GenAI.
• To advance shared principles, frameworks, and practices that will shape how information systems research is conducted and reported in an era of human–AI collaboration.