A graph H is an induced minor of a graph G if it can be obtained from an induced subgraph of G by contracting edges. Otherwise, G is said to be H-free.

We show that the class of H-free graphs is well-quasi-ordered by induced minors if and only if H is an induced minor of the gem (=the path on 4 vertices plus a dominating vertex) or the graph obtained by adding a vertex of degree 2 to the K4 (= the complete graph on 4 vertices).

This generalizes a a result of Robin Thomas who proved that K4-free graphs are well-quasi-ordered by induced minors and complements similar dichotomy theorems proved by Guoli Ding for subgraphs and Peter Damaschke for induced subgraphs.

This is joint work with Jarosław Błasiok, Jean-Florent Raymond, and Théophile Trunck.