Andrew B. Whinston, professor at the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin, is identified as the most influential researcher in the field of management information systems in a study that measures the productivity and impact of published work by scientists and scholars using a yardstick called the h-index.
Sirkka Jarvenpaa and Anitesh Barua, two other faculty members at the school, are also identified in a group of 130 top-tier researchers exemplifying quality and sustainability of scientific output; and diversity of research.
The h-Index for Management Information Systems (PDF) is a ranking created by Hsinchun Chen of the University of Arizona, and Paul J. Hu of the University of Utah, based on the number of papers each scholar has published in academic journals and the number of times those papers are cited by other scholarly works.
Whinston, an economist and computer scientist, was the first to publish a book on electronic commerce, and he continues to study and publish research on digital technologies as they relate to business, markets and consumers. He was honored in 2009 with the Career Award for Outstanding Research Contributions at The University of Texas at Austin for singularly significant research contributions made by a tenured faculty member over an extended period of time.
He has written more than 25 books and 400 articles for refereed publications. According to Google Scholar, they have been referenced more than 10,000 times in scholarly publications.
“Andrew sets the bar pretty high for himself and his colleagues,” said Thomas W. Gilligan, dean of the McCombs School. “What I find admirable is he has continued to keep himself on the forefront of the newest technologies and the current market issues that dominate our society and our conversations — he never seems to slow down.”
Among other areas of electronic commerce, Whinston is now focusing on Twitter and related broadcasting and geocasting technologies such as Gowalla and foursquare.
