Scoping Literature Review

Scoping reviews explore the breadth of available research, whereas systematic reviews evaluate and synthesise evidence relating to a specific question.

Scoping Literature Review Explained Simply

Imagine a researcher wants to understand how remote work has been studied since the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of examining a specific question such as whether remote work increases productivity, the researcher wants to map all major areas of research relating to remote work.

These may include employee wellbeing, productivity, leadership, communication, organisational culture, technology adoption, and work-life balance. The researcher reviews existing studies and organises them into themes to identify what has been studied extensively and where important gaps remain.

This is the essence of a scoping literature review: mapping the landscape of existing research rather than answering a narrowly defined question.

Not sure whether your study requires a narrative, systematic, scoping, integrative, or theoretical literature review?

Dudovskiy AI Research Assistant  can recommend the most appropriate review type and explain how to justify your choice in your dissertation.

What is a Scoping Literature Review?

A scoping literature review is a structured approach to reviewing literature that aims to identify, map, and categorise existing evidence relating to a broad topic. Rather than evaluating the effectiveness of interventions or testing specific hypotheses, scoping reviews seek to provide an overview of what research exists, how research has been conducted, and where knowledge gaps remain.

Scoping reviews are particularly useful when:

• the topic is emerging
• the literature is fragmented
• concepts are poorly defined
• multiple research approaches have been used
• researchers wish to determine whether a systematic review would be feasible

The methodology was originally developed in health sciences but is now increasingly used in business, management, education, information systems, and social sciences.

Scoping vs Systematic Literature Review

Scoping and systematic reviews share some methodological similarities, including structured search strategies and transparent reporting. However, their objectives differ significantly. A systematic review seeks to answer a clearly defined research question by identifying, evaluating, and synthesising relevant evidence.

A scoping review seeks to explore the breadth and nature of available research without necessarily evaluating study quality in depth or producing definitive answers. In other words, systematic reviews focus on evidence synthesis, whereas scoping reviews focus on evidence mapping.

Key Characteristics of Scoping Literature Reviews

Several characteristics distinguish scoping reviews from other review types.

1. Broad Research Questions. Scoping reviews typically investigate broad questions designed to explore a research field rather than evaluate a specific relationship or intervention.

2. Comprehensive Evidence Mapping. The objective is to identify and categorise available evidence rather than determine which evidence is strongest.

3. Inclusion of Diverse Sources. Scoping reviews often include multiple types of evidence, including journal articles, conference papers, reports, policy documents, and grey literature.

4. Identification of Research Gaps. A major outcome of scoping reviews is the identification of under-researched areas that require further investigation.

5. Flexible Evidence Synthesis. The focus is on describing and organising existing knowledge rather than performing detailed statistical or methodological synthesis.

How to Conduct a Scoping Literature Review

Although procedures vary, most scoping reviews involve the following stages:

1. Define the review objectives and research questions.
2. Develop eligibility criteria.
3. Identify relevant databases and information sources.
4. Conduct comprehensive literature searches.
5. Screen and select relevant studies.
6. Extract key information from selected sources.
7. Categorise and map the evidence.
8. Identify major themes, trends, and research gaps.
9. Present findings in a structured and accessible format.

Unlike systematic reviews, formal quality appraisal may not always be required.

Application of Scoping Literature Review: an Example

Suppose your dissertation aims to explore the use of artificial intelligence in higher education. Rather than asking whether AI improves academic performance, you want to understand how AI has been studied across the sector. You conduct searches across academic databases and identify studies relating to:

• AI-assisted teaching
• adaptive learning systems
• automated assessment
• academic integrity
• student support services
• curriculum development

After screening and selecting relevant studies, you categorise the evidence into thematic areas and identify patterns in research methods, geographical coverage, and research outcomes. The review reveals that AI-assisted assessment has received substantial attention, while the impact of AI on dissertation supervision remains relatively underexplored. This mapping exercise helps identify priorities for future research.

Advantages and Limitations of Scoping Literature Reviews

Scoping reviews offer several advantages. They provide a comprehensive overview of broad research areas and help researchers understand the size, nature, and characteristics of existing evidence. They are particularly useful for emerging topics where concepts remain unclear and research findings are fragmented. Scoping reviews also help identify research gaps and inform future research agendas.

However, scoping reviews have limitations. Because they focus on breadth rather than depth, they often provide less detailed analysis than systematic reviews. Quality assessment may be limited or absent, making it difficult to evaluate the strength of evidence. Furthermore, the broad scope of scoping reviews can make data management and synthesis challenging when large volumes of literature are involved.

Common Mistakes When Conducting a Scoping Literature Review

One common mistake is treating a scoping review as a simplified systematic review. Although both use structured methods, they have different objectives and outcomes. Another frequent issue is defining research questions that are either too broad or too vague. While scoping reviews are intentionally broad, they still require clear boundaries.

Researchers also sometimes focus excessively on summarising studies rather than mapping patterns and identifying knowledge gaps. Finally, students occasionally overlook the importance of transparent reporting. Even though scoping reviews are exploratory, the search and selection process should still be clearly documented.

Scoping Literature Reviews in Business Research

Scoping reviews are becoming increasingly important in business and management research because many contemporary topics evolve faster than traditional theories can explain them.

Examples include:

• artificial intelligence
• digital transformation
• sustainability
• platform economies
• remote work
• blockchain technologies
• gig economy employment
• digital marketing innovations

In these rapidly changing areas, researchers often need to understand the overall research landscape before conducting more focused investigations. Scoping reviews provide an effective way to map emerging fields and identify opportunities for future research.

Scoping Literature Reviews in the Age of AI and Digital Research

Artificial intelligence is particularly well suited to supporting scoping literature reviews because their primary objective is evidence mapping rather than detailed evidence evaluation. AI-powered tools can rapidly search databases, classify studies, identify recurring themes, cluster research streams, and visualise relationships across large bodies of literature.

This creates opportunities that were previously difficult to achieve manually. Researchers can now map thousands of studies, identify emerging research clusters, and track the evolution of entire fields with unprecedented speed and scale.

However, AI introduces a methodological challenge that is especially relevant to scoping reviews. The purpose of a scoping review is often to discover unexpected patterns, overlooked research streams, and emerging areas of inquiry. AI systems, however, tend to prioritise highly cited publications, dominant themes, and established research clusters. As a result, important but less visible areas of research may receive insufficient attention.

Future scoping reviews may therefore require researchers to balance algorithmic efficiency with intellectual curiosity. The most valuable scoping reviews may not be those that simply map the largest research areas, but those that identify neglected topics, emerging trends, and unexplored connections that algorithms may overlook. In this sense, AI can help researchers navigate vast evidence landscapes, but human judgement remains essential for discovering where the next important research questions may emerge.

Still unsure whether a scoping review is appropriate for your dissertation?

Dudovskiy AI Research Assistant  can evaluate your research objectives and recommend whether a scoping, systematic, narrative, integrative, or theoretical review would be most suitable.

When to Use a Scoping Literature Review

A scoping literature review is most appropriate when:

• the research area is broad or emerging
• concepts and definitions are unclear
• the objective is to map existing evidence
• multiple research methods have been used
• research gaps need to be identified
• the feasibility of a future systematic review is being assessed

Scoping reviews are particularly valuable when researchers need to understand the overall structure of a research field before undertaking more focused studies.

Dissertation Example

This study employed a scoping literature review to map existing research relating to the use of artificial intelligence in higher education. A structured search strategy was applied across multiple academic databases to identify relevant studies published between 2015 and 2026. Selected studies were categorised according to research focus, methodological approach, geographical location, and educational application. The review identified major research streams relating to AI-assisted learning, automated assessment, academic integrity, and student support services. A scoping review was considered appropriate because the objective was to explore the breadth of existing evidence and identify research gaps rather than answer a narrowly defined research question.

Exam Tip

Students often assume that scoping reviews are easier versions of systematic reviews. In reality, the two approaches serve different purposes. When justifying a scoping review, focus on its ability to map evidence, identify research gaps, and explore broad or emerging research areas. Examiners usually look for evidence that the review was designed to explore the landscape of a field rather than evaluate the effectiveness of a specific intervention or relationship.