SCAS-AI: A Strategy to Semi-Automate the Initial Selection Task in Systematic Literature Reviews

Context: There are several initiatives to semi-automate the initial selection of studies task for Systematic Literature Reviews (SLR) to reduce effort and potential bias. Objective: We propose a strategy called SCAS-AI to semi-automate the initial selection task. This strategy improves the original...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in2022 48th Euromicro Conference on Software Engineering and Advanced Applications (SEAA) pp. 483 - 490
Main Authors Octaviano, Fabio, Felizardo, Katia Romero, Fabbri, Sandra C. P. F., Napoleao, Bianca Minetto, Petrillo, Fabio, Halle, Sylvain
Format Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published IEEE 01.08.2022
Subjects
Artificial intelligence
Automation
Bibliographies
Fuzzy logic
Genetic Algorithm
Genetic algorithms
Software algorithms
Study Selection
Systematic Literature Review
Systematics
Task analysis
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Context: There are several initiatives to semi-automate the initial selection of studies task for Systematic Literature Reviews (SLR) to reduce effort and potential bias. Objective: We propose a strategy called SCAS-AI to semi-automate the initial selection task. This strategy improves the original SCAS strategy with Artificial Intelligence (AI) resources (fuzzy logic and genetic algorithm) for studies selection. Method: We evaluated the SCAS-AI strategy through a quasi-experiment with SLRs in Software Engineering (SE). Results: In general, the SCAS-AI strategy improved the results achieved using the original SCAS strategy in reducing the effort of the initial selection task. The effort reduction applying SCAS-AI was 39.1%. In addition, the errors percentage was 0.3% for studies automatically excluded (false negative - loss of evidence) and 3.3% for studies automatically included (false positive - evidence later excluded during the full-text reading). Conclusion: The results show the potential of the investigated AI techniques to support the initial selection task for SLRs in SE.
DOI:10.1109/SEAA56994.2022.00080