Identifying Barriers to the Systematic Literature Review Process

Abstract

Conducting a systematic literature review (SLR) is difficult and time-consuming for an experienced researcher, and even more so for a novice graduate student. With a better understanding of the most common difficulties in the SLR process, mentors will be better prepared to guide novices through the process. This understanding will help researchers have more realistic expectations of the SLR process and will help mentors guide novices through its planning, execution, and documentation phases. Consequently, the objectives of this work are to identify the most difficult and time-consuming phases of the SLR process. Using data from two sources - 52 responses to an online survey sent to all authors of SLRs published in software engineering venues and qualitative experience reports from 8 PhD students who conducted SLRs as part of a course - we identified specific difficulties related to each phase of the SLR process. Our findings highlight the importance of planning, teamwork, and mentoring by an experienced researcher throughout the process. The paper also identifies implications for the teaching of the SLR process.