The overall picture of IS research in North America is a good one.  The IS research field has matured to the point where our substantive and methodological rigor makes the IS field the equal of any other business-school discipline.  Reviewing just a few milestones in the history of IS research in North America helps us see this picture: one might say that the rigorous state of our field began developing no later than with the founding of MIS Quarterly in 1977; it continued with the introduction of positivist science (such as the Minnesota experiments) taking hold and shaping our field in the 1980’s; it was consolidated with the establishment of ISR in 1990; and it was further advanced by the acceptance and diffusion of interpretive and critical science (such as ethnography and critical social theory) in the 1990’s.

However, as good as the overall picture is, it's not perfect.  Problems existed, lurking in the background...