Meeting Announcement
Service management, as a distinct field of study and practice, is currently undergoing a renaissance.  The New York Times highlighted this in an article published on April 18, 2006 titled “Academia Dissects the Service Sector, but Is It a Science?” To address that specific question, the Decision Sciences Institute (DSI) is pleased to announce its first miniconference which will focus specifically on the emerging academic discipline labeled “Service Science.” This miniconference, which is sponsored by IBM and Bentley College, is open to all who are interested in advancing understanding and theory in Service Science. It will be held on May 24-26, 2007 at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. It will begin Thursday evening, May 24 with an opening reception, and is expected to end early Saturday afternoon, May 26.

What is Service Science?
Service Science is a rapidly emerging intellectual discipline with a transdisciplinary focus that provides the opportunity for both researchers and practitioners to develop a structured approach to identifying, analyzing and solving business-related issues within the service sector. Services by their very nature are transdisciplinary, in that there are several traditional academic disciplines that must be taken into consideration simultaneously in order to achieve optimal results. These include operations management, marketing, human resource management, information technology, and design innovation.

Supported by initiatives at IBM and a growing cadre of academic researchers across a wide variety of disciplines, Service Science is quickly becoming a revolution in services thinking.  A number of universities —including, among others, UC-Berkeley, Arizona State University, North Carolina State, Georgia Tech, and Stanford—have responded to this revolution and are specifically designing Service Science courses and curriculum.

Information for Contributors
Individuals from academia, business and government are invited to submit refereed research papers, non-refereed research abstracts, and proposals for workshops, panels, and symposia and that contribute to advancing the Service Science field. All submissions should have a clear services focus and be transdisciplinary in nature; that is, they should involve more than a single traditional discipline.

Authors will have a choice of submitting either a research paper that will undergo a blind review by at least two referees, a non-refereed research abstract of 300 words maximum, or a session proposal. All submissions will be submitted electronically following the detailed instructions provided below.

All refereed research papers that are accepted will be published in the Conference Proceedings. In addition, all accepted refereed papers will be further reviewed for inclusion in a Special Topics Forum on Service Science, which will form part of an issue of the Decision Sciences Journal. Research papers not accepted as such will automatically be accepted as a research abstract.

The submission of a research paper or research abstract means that the authors certify that the research is not copyrighted, it has not been accepted for publication in a journal, it has not been presented or accepted for presentation at another professional meeting, and it is not currently under review for presentation at another professional meeting. Further, authors certify their intent to register for and attend this meeting to present the paper, abstract, or proposal. The copyrights for all forms of presentation at this meeting will remain with the authors.

Submission Deadlines
The submission deadline for refereed research papers is February 15, 2007. The submission deadline for non-refereed research abstracts and proposals is March 15, 2007.

Best Paper Awards
There will be two best paper awards of $750.00 each. These awards are being sponsored by IBM and Bentley College.

Hotel Information
(Forthcoming)