A research methodology for systematic literature reviews: application to zone picking and preliminary results

The aim of this paper is to provide a methodology for conducting a systematic literature review (SLR) relating to research field of zone picking and to propose some preliminary results on this topic. The proposed methodology (called DEBABA – see below) has been applied in this paper to the topic of zone picking but can actually be replicated and used by anyone who has an interest to conduct SLRs. The steps followed for the review are as follows: Data extraction (DE) after having identified the topic of scientific relevance (in this case «zone picking»), it’s necessary to perform the bibliographic research on the identified topic. Bibliographic analysis (BA) statistical (descriptive) analysis on the articles collected. Bibliometric analysis (BA) quantitative techniques for analysing the data extracted from databases. This method of literature review lays the foundations for carrying out a correct review, by studying the evolution of a topic over time and identifying the most prominent topics and authors, in order to provide a complete overview and classification of the existing research on a particular topic, summarize and synthesize the available knowledge on this topic and identify the limitations of the literature to propose future lines of research. To show its usage, some preminary results of the application of the proposed approach to the topic of zone picking are presented and discussed.