Design Science in Information Systems Research: foundational and evolutionary aspects

Academic research on design science in IS field has proliferated significantly over the last two decades. From Simon research to nowadays, the importance of design science is well recognized in the IS literature. However, despite the IS literature is paying more attention on this topic, there is no extensive analysis of a comprehensive set of sources has been performed in order to explore this emerging body of knowledge. The aim of this study is to understand the state of design science in ISR by performing a survey of the existing body of knowledge. Using several online database literature searches, we obtained 245 publications for data analysis. A comprehensive list of references is presented together with a roadmap for performing a bibliographic analysis. Our analysis provides useful insights for IS practitioners and researchers on the major historical trends that can guide future research in this fertile area of inquiry.