Automation of systematic literature reviews: A systematic literature review

Objective: This study aims to collect and synthesize the studies that focus on the automation of SLR to pave the way for further research. Method: A systematic literature review is conducted on published primary studies on the automation of SLR studies, in which 41 primary studies have been analyzed. Results: This SLR identifies the objectives of automation studies, application domains, automated steps of the SLR, automation techniques, and challenges and solution directions. Conclusion: According to our study, the leading automated step is the Selection of Primary Studies. Although many studies have provided automation approaches for systematic literature reviews, no study has been found to apply automation techniques in the planning and reporting phase. Further research is needed to support the auto­ mation of the other activities of the SLR process.