# Artificial intelligence to automate the systematic review of scientific literature

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.10917 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.10917/

## Key facts

- Cited by 11 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 4 of its 57 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 13 Jan 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [FAST2: an Intelligent Assistant for Finding Relevant Papers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1705.05420/) (2017)
- [Finding Better Active Learners for Faster Literature Reviews](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1612.03224/) (2016)
- [Towards Evidence-Based Ontology for Supporting Systematic Literature Review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.08049/) (2016)
- [Secondary Studies in the Academic Context: A Systematic Mapping and Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.07751/) (2020)

## Built on by (most cited first, 11 of 11)

- [Automating Research Synthesis with Domain-Specific Large Language Model Fine-Tuning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.08680/) (2024)
- [Artificial Intelligence for Literature Reviews: Opportunities and Challenges](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.08565/) (2024)
- [The FIX Benchmark: Extracting Features Interpretable to eXperts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.13684/) (2024)
- [OmniScience: A Large-scale Multi-modal Dataset for Scientific Image Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.13758/) (2026)
- [PROMPTHEUS: A Human-Centered Pipeline to Streamline SLRs with LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.15978/) (2024)
- [A Literature Review of Literature Reviews in Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.12928/) (2024)
- [AI Insights: A Case Study on Utilizing ChatGPT Intelligence for Research Paper Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.03293/) (2024)
- [A FAIR and Free Prompt-based Research Assistant](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.14601/) (2024)
- [L-PRISMA: An Extension of PRISMA in the Era of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.19236/) (2026)
- [Automatizaci'on de Informes Geot'ecnicos para Macizos Rocosos con IA](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.04690/) (2025)
- [SALSA: Semi-Autonomous Literature Summarization Assistant](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.22210/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Artificial intelligence (AI) has acquired notorious relevance in modern computing as it effectively solves complex tasks traditionally done by humans. AI provides methods to represent and infer knowledge, efficiently manipulate texts and learn from vast amount of data. These characteristics are applicable in many activities that human find laborious or repetitive, as is the case of the analysis of scientific literature. Manually preparing and writing a systematic literature review (SLR) takes considerable time and effort, since it requires planning a strategy, conducting the literature search and analysis, and reporting the findings. Depending on the area under study, the number of papers retrieved can be of hundreds or thousands, meaning that filtering those relevant ones and extracting the key information becomes a costly and error-prone process. However, some of the involved tasks are repetitive and, therefore, subject to automation by means of AI. In this paper, we present a survey of AI techniques proposed in the last 15 years to help researchers conduct systematic analyses of scientific literature. We describe the tasks currently supported, the types of algorithms applied, and available tools proposed in 34 primary studies. This survey also provides a historical perspective of the evolution of the field and the role that humans can play in an increasingly automated SLR process.