On how Cognitive Computing will plan your next Systematic Review
This work addresses the overlooked planning phase of systematic literature reviews, aiming to improve efficiency for researchers and practitioners in evidence-based research.
This paper investigates the challenges in planning systematic literature reviews (SLRs) and explores how cognitive computing can augment this process. It gathers insights from 24 SLR authors on current planning practices and potential support strategies, framing findings within a cognitive augmentation framework and evaluating a prototype for technical feasibility.
Systematic literature reviews (SLRs) are at the heart of evidence-based research, setting the foundation for future research and practice. However, producing good quality timely contributions is a challenging and highly cognitive endeavor, which has lately motivated the exploration of automation and support in the SLR process. In this paper we address an often overlooked phase in this process, that of planning literature reviews, and explore under the lenses of cognitive process augmentation how to overcome its most salient challenges. In doing so, we report on the insights from 24 SLR authors on planning practices, its challenges as well as feedback on support strategies inspired by recent advances in cognitive computing. We frame our findings under the cognitive augmentation framework, and report on a prototype implementation and evaluation focusing on further informing the technical feasibility.