Systematic Reviews using PRISMA flow diagram with or without using VOSviewer and R Biblioshiny

PRISMA 2020 flow diagrams can be built and customized for systematic literature reviews (SLRs) even when data comes from multiple sources—then paired with bibliometric visuals from tools like VOSviewer or R Biblioshiny, or recreated manually in Excel. The core workflow is consistent: define databases and search scope, apply inclusion/exclusion criteria to screen records, document counts at each stage, and present the resulting selection pipeline alongside publication trends and keyword/author analyses. That matters because PRISMA-style transparency is often what lets readers judge how rigorously the evidence base was assembled.

The process starts with selecting a database (for example, Web of Science, Scopus, or Lens.org). From there, records are screened using explicit inclusion and exclusion criteria—turning an initial pool of “identified” articles into a smaller set of “included” studies. When the search is limited to one bibliographic database, bibliometric tools can generate the PRISMA-linked outputs more directly: VOSviewer or R Biblioshiny can extract metadata, produce network maps, and generate charts for publication trends and relationships among keywords or authors.

When the evidence base spans different sources—such as organization websites, other databases, or non-standard repositories—the workflow shifts toward combining datasets and documenting the screening steps more manually. In that scenario, the PRISMA flow diagram still anchors the reporting, but the supporting visuals (bar charts, publication-by-year trends, author counts, subject-area breakdowns, and keyword frequency plots) may be created using Excel. The transcript emphasizes that Excel can handle many of the same “presentation layer” tasks: selecting a prepared year-wise table, inserting recommended charts (bar/line), building keyword repeat-frequency visuals, and even generating country-level maps using built-in mapping features.

A practical example is used to show how PRISMA counts and bibliometric outputs connect. One SLR on “energy efficient” topics is described with a PRISMA flow chart that begins with records retrieved from Scopus/Web of Science, then narrows after applying inclusion/exclusion criteria—resulting in a final set of studies used for the SLR and bibliometric analysis. The same example is used to illustrate typical outputs: publication trend graphs, bibliometric network maps (from VOSviewer or Biblioshiny), and structured tables summarizing study details such as research target, product/output focus, and methods.

The transcript also provides guidance on obtaining a PRISMA 2020 template and adapting it. The key is to download the PRISMA 2020 format, edit the sections that match the review’s scope (including “other sources” if applicable), and then credit PRISMA appropriately in the final write-up. For readers who cannot use VOSviewer/Biblioshiny due to single-database limitations or data-format constraints, the workaround is to extract relevant fields from papers and databases, then recreate the needed charts and tables manually.

Overall, the message is pragmatic: keep the PRISMA 2020 selection logic intact, then choose the toolchain—bibliometric software or Excel—based on where the data comes from and what formats are available. The result is a review that is both reproducible in its evidence selection and informative in its bibliometric summaries.