Defining Protocols of Systematic Literature Reviews in Software Engineering: A Survey

Systems, software, and quality engineering: Applying defect behavior theory to programming: Arthur E Ferdinand Van Nostrand Reinhold New York (1993) 416 pp £51.50 ISBN 0 442 01730 8

Background: Systematic literature reviews (SLRs) have become a standard practice as part of software engineering (SE) research, although their quality varies. To build on the reviews, both for future research and industry practice, they need to be of high quality. Aim: To assess the quality of SLRs in SE, we put forward an appraisal instrument for SLRs. Method: A well-established appraisal instrument from research in healthcare was used as a starting point to develop the instrument. It is adapted to SE using guidelines, checklists, and experiences from SE. The first version was reviewed by four external experts on SLRs in SE and updated based on their feedback. To demonstrate its use, the updated version was also used by the authors to assess a sample of six selected systematic literature studies. Results: The outcome of the research is an appraisal instrument for quality assessment of SLRs in SE. The instrument includes 15 items with different options to capture the quality. The instrument also supports consolidating the items into groups, which are then used to assess the overall quality of an SLR. Conclusion: The presented instrument may be helpful support for an appraiser in assessing the quality of SLRs in SE.

Background: Systematic Literature Reviews (SLRs) have been gaining significant attention from Software Engineering (SE) researchers. Several researchers are also working on improving SLR methodology for SE. Objective: The study reported in this paper aims to validate the QGS-based search process for SLR, i.e. whether a more effective (sensitive) and/or productive (precise) search can be achieved by following the QGS-based process. Method: We used a dual-case study, in which each case includes two observations of SE literature search for the same SLR but using and not using the QGS-based approach. The overall sensitivity and precision were calculated for each observation that implemented different search design. Results: The use of QGS-based search process resulted in higher sensitivity and precision in this dual-case study. Conclusions: A systematic search process can help capture more relevant studies as well as save researchers' time spent on literature search activities. Our observations also support that an integrated search strategy is recommended for SLRs in SE to avoid the possible limitations of applying a single (manual or automated) search method.

This paper offers a critique of the application of a systematic literature review (SLR) process during a grounded theory (GT) investigation. The place of the literature review (LR) within GT has long been discussed, contested, and frequently misunderstood. One of GT’s hallmarks is its inductive nature, allowing salient concepts to ‘arise’ rather than being deduced. Hence, there are differing perspectives on the role of the LR concerning enabling or constraining this inductive process. However, scant guidance is available on conducting LRs for GT studies. Wolfswinkel, Furtmueller and Wilderom (2011) offer a five-stage GT method for reviewing literature. This paper will provide insights into the advantages and disadvantages of their method. Though grounded in theoretical principles surrounding the LR’s purpose in GT, this paper gives practical guidance on operationalising this five-stage SLR process. This is done by demonstrating the application of their stages in a doctoral dissertation. A contemporaneous research audit trail was used to document each stage, reflect on challenges, and justify deviations from the original five stages. Excerpts from the audit trail will be used to illustrate how the process was applied. Based on the findings from applying these stages, tentative advancements to the model will be offered so that other researchers will have more detailed guidance on how a SLR may be conducted within GT studies.

Software can significantly facilitate the management of the complete systematic literature review process (SLR). However, most specialized software for use in SLR processes is designed to meet the requirements of the health and medical sciences and software engineering, and there is a need for dedicated software for the specific research requirements of the social sciences. Furthermore, most of the software currently used is closed and the open source code alternatives require personnel with expertise in configuration and setup.We present Buhos, an application for managing the complete process of systematic literature reviews that is web-based and developed in Ruby. It offers functionalities for supporting the process of searching, screening, data extraction and reporting. Buhos can be used locally through an in-house web server, as well as in a distributed manner, integrated with other online services.

Software plays an important role in various aspects of our life. However, recent software development practices have substantial negative impacts (direct and indirect) on economy, society, human beings, and environment. To cope with these issues the concept of Green Software Engineering has boomed recently. Green and sustainable software development aims to create green software that meets the needs of current and future users while minimizing its negative impacts on the environment and society. Green software development is getting attention in Global Software Engineering (GSE). Software development multi-sourcing vendor organizations have focused on the adaptation of green practices in software development projects. The objectives of this study are to identify and scrutinize a list of critical success factors (CSFs) for vendors in the development of green and sustainable software. The required data for conducting the study was taken, via systematic literature review (SLR) process, from a sample of 74 research papers. The SLR findings reveal that ‘green software design and efficient coding ’, ‘power-saving software strategies ’, ‘low carbon emission throughout the software development process ’, ‘efficient resource utilization ’, ‘paperless communication ’, ‘filtration of requirements through green evaluator and e-waste management’ are the critical factors to be implanted by vendors in the development of green and sustainable software.

Systematic Literature Reviews (SLRs) are an important tool used by software engineering researchers to summarize the state of knowledge about a particular topic. Currently, SLR authors must perform the difficult, time-consuming task in largely manual fashion. To identify barriers faced by SLR authors, we conducted an interactive community workshop prior to ESEM'13. Workshop participants generated a total of 100 ideas that, through group discussions, formed 37 composite barriers to the SLR process. Further analysis reveals the barriers relate to latent themes regarding the SLR process, primary studies, the practitioner community, and tooling. This paper describes the barriers identified during the workshop along with a ranking of those barriers that is based on votes by workshop attendees. The paper concludes by describing the impact of these barriers on three important constituencies: SLR Methodology Researchers, SLR Authors and SLR consumers.

Background: Systematic literature reviews (SLRs) have become an established methodology in software engineering (SE) research however they can be very time consuming and error prone. Aim: The aims of this study are to identify and classify tools that can help to automate part or all of the SLR process within the SE domain. Method: A mapping study was performed using an automated search strategy plus snowballing to locate relevant papers. A set of known papers was used to validate the search string. Results: 14 papers were accepted into the final set. Eight presented text mining tools and six discussed the use of visualisation techniques. The stage most commonly targeted was study selection. Only two papers reported an independent evaluation of the tool presented. The majority were evaluated through small experiments and examples of their use. Conclusions: A variety of tools are available to support the SLR process although many are in the early stages of development and usage.

Objective. This paper presents an overview of existing artificial intelligence tools to produce systematic literature reviews. Furthermore, we propose a general framework resulting from combining these techniques to highlight the challenges and possibilities currently existing in this research area. Design/Methodology/Approach. We undertook a scoping review on the systematic literature review steps to automate them via computational techniques. Results/Discussion. The process of creating a literature review is both creative and technical. The technical part of this process is liable to automation. Based on the literature, we chose to divide this technical part into four steps: searching, screening, extraction, and synthesis. For each one of these steps, we presented practical artificial intelligence techniques to carry them out. In addition, we presented the obstacles encountered in the application of each technique. Conclusion. We proposed a framework for automatically creating systematic literature reviews by combining and placing existing techniques in stages where they possess the greatest potential to be useful. Despite still lacking practical assessment in different areas of knowledge, this proposal indicates ways with the potential to reduce the time-consuming and repetitive work embedded in the systematic literature review process. Originality/Value. The paper presents the current possibilities for automating systematic literature reviews and how they can work together to reduce researchers’ operational workload.

BackgroundTransposable elements (TEs) constitute the most common repeated sequences in eukaryotic genomes. Recent studies demonstrated their deep impact on species diversity, adaptation to the environment and diseases. Although there are many conventional bioinformatics algorithms for detecting and classifying TEs, none have achieved reliable results on different types of TEs. Machine learning (ML) techniques can automatically extract hidden patterns and novel information from labeled or non-labeled data and have been applied to solving several scientific problems.MethodologyWe followed the Systematic Literature Review (SLR) process, applying the six stages of the review protocol from it, but added a previous stage, which aims to detect the need for a review. Then search equations were formulated and executed in several literature databases. Relevant publications were scanned and used to extract evidence to answer research questions.ResultsSeveral ML approaches have already been tested on other bioinformatics problems with promising results, yet there are few algorithms and architectures available in literature focused specifically on TEs, despite representing the majority of the nuclear DNA of many organisms. Only 35 articles were found and categorized as relevant in TE or related fields.ConclusionsML is a powerful tool that can be used to address many problems. Although ML techniques have been used widely in other biological tasks, their utilization in TE analyses is still limited. Following the SLR, it was possible to notice that the use of ML for TE analyses (detection and classification) is an open problem, and this new field of research is growing in interest.

Theory-oriented software engineering

PurposeManaging stakeholders' reciprocal interdependencies is always a challenging issue. Stakeholders need to find out different ways to communicate information and coordinate material flows during the supply chain processes. Many recent studies have advanced construction supply chain coordination from multiple perspectives. However, the field still lacks a comprehensive analysis to summarize existing research, to explicitly identify all the possible enablers for coordination and to investigate how the enablers can be carried out at the supply chain interfaces. To fill the gap, this study aims to conduct a systematic review in order to examine the relevant literature.Design/methodology/approachA systematic literature review process was conducted to identify and synthesize relevant publications (published in the past 20 years) concerning the coordination of construction supply chain functions. These publications were coded to link main research findings with specific enabler categories. In addition, how these enablers can be used at the interfaces across supply chain processes was reviewed with an in-depth analysis of reciprocal communications between stakeholders at design-to-production, production-to-logistics and production-to-site-assembly phases.FindingsThe coordination enablers were classified into three categories: (1) contractual enablers (including subtopics on relational contracts and incentive models), (2) procedural enablers (including subtopics on multiagent knowledge sharing systems and the last planner system) and (3) technological enablers (including subtopics on linked databases for design coordination, design for manufacturing software platforms and automated monitoring technologies). It was found that interfacing different functions requires a certain level of integration of stakeholders for quick response and feedback processes. The integration of novel contractual forms with digital technologies, such as smart contracts, however, was not adequately addressed in the state of the art.Research limitations/implicationsThe scope of the systematic review is limited to the static analysis of selected publications. Longitudinal studies should be further included to sharpen the inductions of enablers considering organizational changes and process dynamics in construction projects.Practical implicationsDifferent enablers for coordination were summarized in a concise manner, which provides researchers and project stakeholders with a reinforced understanding of various ways to manage reciprocal interdependencies at different supply chain interfaces.Originality/valueThis study constitutes an important input for research on the construction supply chain by illuminating the thematic topic of coordination from inductively developed review processes, which included a holistic framing of the emerging coordination enablers and their use across supply chain functions. Consequently, it closes some identified knowledge gaps and offers additional insights to improve the supply chain performance of construction projects.

Life sciences industry is witnessing a paradigm shift of evidence-based approach from population to patient level. This shift is being supported by structured evidence generation methodologies like Systematic Literature Review (SLR), Real World Evidence (RWE), and others to support regulatory, clinical and policy level decision making. The amalgamation of SLR, with real world data and quantitative techniques like Meta-Analysis, Network Meta-Analysis represent highest level of evidence generation. However, the current state of generating SLR, involves manual and labor-intensive process with high dependency on developed countries. The various stakeholders worldwide viz: researchers and policy makers are demanding technology levers to optimize the end-to-end SLR process. As the future of evidence generation will be more complex, industry should invest in smart, intelligent, and connected technology and science-based ecosystem to disrupt and transform existing manual process. This article presents the SLR trends, challenges and potential transformation use case leveraging technology, global capability, and capacity harmonization.

Flexible hardware implementations of cryptographic algorithms in the real time applications have been frequently proposed. This paper classifies the state-of-the-art research practices through a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) process. The selected researches have been classified into three design categories: crypto processor, crypto coprocessor and multicore crypto processor. Subsequently, comparative analysis in terms of flexibility, throughput and area is presented. It facilitates the researchers and designers of the domain to select an appropriate design approach for a particular algorithm and/or application.

Efficacy and Toxicity of CD19 Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Therapy for Lymphoma in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis