Table 4.

Planning Step 4 “Define inclusion and exclusion criteria”. Examples of criteria type.

Criteria Type	Description	Example
Period	Articles can be selected based on the time period to review, e.g., reviewing the technology under study from the year it emerged, or reviewing progress in the field since the publication of a prior literature review.	Inclusion: From 2015 to 2021 Exclusion: Articles prior 2015
Language	Articles can be excluded based on language.	Exclusion: Articles not in English
Type of Literature	Articles can be excluded if they are fall into the category of grey literature.	Exclusion: Reports, policy literature, working papers, newsletters, government documents, speeches
Type of source	Articles can be included or excluded by the type of origin, i.e., conference or journal articles or books.	Inclusion: Articles from Conferences or Journals Exclusion: Articles from books
Impact Source	Articles can be excluded if the author limits the impact factor or quartile of the source.	Inclusion Articles from Q1, and Q2 sources Exclusion: Articles with a Journal Impact Score (JIS) lower than x
Accessibility	Not accessible in specific databases.	Exclusion: Not accessible
Relevance to research questions	Articles can be excluded if they are not relevant to a particular question or to “n” number of research questions.	Exclusion Not relevant to at least 2 research questions