This reconnaissance study is part of a multi-year effort funded by the US NSF to create a framework for a sustainable global community among digital government researchers and research sponsors. It takes a broad look at the current state of international digital government research to identify its main contours and current directions. A reconnaissance study has the virtue of highlighting the defining characteristics of a topic. We can say something about its size, scope, variety, and trajectory. However, it also has limitations. In order to gather information about as many aspects as possible, our methods rely on secondary analysis of published information. We have acquired enough information to describe the current state of international digital government research with some breadth, but little depth. In this report, we present our findings on the nature of international digital government research and illustrate it with selected studies and organizational profiles. We have not exhaustively analyzed this body of work, nor have we attempted to evaluate its quality.

Within these limitations, the study addresses the following broad questions:

• What kinds of international problems are the subject of digital government research efforts?
• What kinds of topics have been investigated using comparative methods across national boundaries? What problems and topics are emphasized by different research sponsors?
• What are the patterns of investigation (problems, topics, methods, funding sources and mechanisms) in different parts of the world?
• What are the important international organizations in this research area?
• What are the research institutions, conferences, journals, or other sources of research information that span countries?

The following sections of the report define six basic types of international research, summarize and characterize the extant research literature, profile the main research sponsors, and briefly describe key events and professional organizations where international digital government research is encouraged. An extensive bibliography of international work as well as the detailed methodology of the study are presented in appendices. A detailed Endnote® file of international research publications is available at http://www.ctg.albany.edu/publications/reports/recon_study. These results can be used as a baseline for assessing subsequent growth and development of the field. The study can also inform the development of the emerging global network of research professionals who are working in the international digital government domain.