TAMIU Professor Founding Editor-In-Chief of E-Collaboration Journal

Dr. Nereu Florencio Kock, Texas A&M International University associate professor and College of Business Administration chair of the department of management information systems and decision science, has been selected as the founding editor-in-chief for International Journal of E-Collaboration (IjeC). IjeC's first issue was published in January 2005.

Dr. Kock said the journal's main focus is electronic collaboration with peer-reviewed articles submitted from all over the world. He defines e-collaboration as collaboration among individuals in a group to accomplish a task using electronic communication technologies like Web sites, videoconferencing, and teleconferencing.

Kock pointed out that the area of e-collaboration is very hot now because more companies are becoming "virtual," in the sense that they rely heavily on ad hoc groups working on projects that involve people that are geographically distributed. He also argues that electronic collaboration tools and methods are needed to implement outsourcing initiatives with companies out of state and overseas.

"Several of the large companies, including IBM and Microsoft, have lines of products dedicated to e-collaboration, so it's a very good time for a journal like this to be started," Kock indicated.

According to Kock, the journal benefits students and the University as it reports on state of art studies on electronic collaboration that will probably become part of textbooks in one year or so. Industry practitioners that use e-collaboration tools to accomplish their work also benefit from the journal as it reports on the impacts of e-collaboration tools in organizations based on carefully designed studies. The articles are written so that practitioners are able to apply the findings of these studies to their day-to-day operations.

E-collaboration tools are not the most expensive information technology tools, according to Kock. He said they actually are one of the least expensive information technology tools that deliver the biggest return on investment.

For the journal to become prestigious it has to be selective in the papers that it accepts for publication. Kock's biggest challenge is to stimulate submissions and encompass a selective, rigorous peer-review process where only the best papers are accepted. This will add to the journal's prestige and enhance that of the University, he believes.

Kock holds degrees in electronics engineering (B.E.E.), computer science (M.S.), and management information systems (Ph.D.). His research interests include action research, ethical and legal issues in technology research and management, e-collaboration, and business process improvement. He joined the TAMIU faculty in fall 2003.

He has been published in a number of journals including Communications of the ACM, Decision Support Systems, IEEE Transactions on Education, Information and Management, Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce, MIS Quarterly, Organization Science, and many others.

The International Journal of E-Collaboration is published in print and electronic media by one of the largest publishers in the information technology area, Idea Group Publishing.

To subscribe to the journal or to download a free sample journal copy, please visit http://www.idea-group.com/ijec

For more information, please contact Dr. Kock at 326.2521 or e-mail nedkock@tamiu.edu.

University office hours are from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday-Friday.

Journalists who need additional information or help with media requests and interviews should contact the Office of Public Affairs and Information Services at pais@tamiu.edu