Respondents were asked to list up to four academic journals they considered most important in their research domains – a total of 229 different journals were reported. In addition, we made an attempt to understand how DG researchers identified themselves in academic circles. The following breakdown demonstrates that DG research is a multidisciplinary field.

• 38 percent identified their primary field as Information Science or MIS
• 23 percent identified their primary field as Computer Science or Engineering
• 25 percent identified their primary field as Political or Public Sector Disciplines
• 14 percent identified their primary field as Social Sciences or Humanities

Survey results confirm that DG research has been ongoing for the last couple of decades. Participants reported that they have conducted digital government research for as long as 25 years. The mean number of years conducting DG research was 5.64 years.

The vast majority of the respondents (92 percent) work in a university setting, with others coming from government, the non-profit sector, private sector, and self-employment.

Over one-third of respondents (35 percent) teach at least one DG-related course and the majority of courses taught are at the graduate level (64 percent). In addition, we asked respondents to list the titles of the DG courses they teach. Most courses combined information technology (IT) with topics on democracy or government, while others combined IT with management and organizational issues.

Respondents reported conducting DG research in 31 different countries. The top five countries were the United States (150), United Kingdom (15), Germany (10), Netherlands (6), Austria (3), and Finland (3). Approximately one-fifth (19 percent) are conducting their primary DG research outside of the US, mainly in Europe. More than one-quarter (29 percent) conducted research in more than one country.

More than three-quarters of the respondents considered scholarly conferences most useful for staying informed about new DG research (76 percent). More than half considered professional conferences (56 percent), scholarly journals (55 percent), and professional journals (51 percent) useful as well.