The role of a protocol in a systematic literature review

Abstract

ABSTRACTA good literature review that effectively synthesises current knowledge can contribute to the cumulative knowledge growth and advancement of a field. This tutorial-paper complements the existing methodological guidelines, with a particular focus on the ‘literature review protocol’- which can significantly improve the quality, efficiency, and impact of a literature review endeavour. In this paper, we describe what a ‘literature review protocol’ is, discuss its major components, and provide essential design guidelines. In particular, we provide a comprehensive toolkit with step-by-step instructions, templates, and illustrative examples that users may adapt to their own projects. This information is appropriate for novice and expert researchers conducting a literature review for publication purposes, and also for reviewers or editors who assess literature review papers. It is also beneficial for educators engaged in research trainings.KEYWORDS: Literature reviewmethodological guidelinesprotocolcodingdata analysisillustrative examples Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.Notes1. ACPHIS PhD Medal is awarded annually for the best Australian PhD thesis in the discipline of Information Systems2. Inductive/deductive/hybrid.