The Question About the Question: Is There Any Relationship Between Formulating an Explicit Research(able) Question and Citation Impact in Engineering-Based Systematic Literature Reviews?

Systematic Literature Reviews (SLRs) have become essential apparatus for critical appraisal of evidence outside of the medical and healthcare profession. However, although SLRs often require a clearly stated Research Question (RQ), followed by a rigorous protocol for assuring transparency and replicability of findings, misuse has been reported. Using a sample of 400 SCOPUS-indexed engineering-based SLRs (Systematic Literature Reviews), this study investigates the citation impact of formulating an explicit RQ using both parametric and non-parametric statistical tests (p < 0.05). The results suggest a significant positive association with studies proposing a clearly stated RQ (p < 0.01), particularly within top-ranked engineering-based SLRs, suggesting that RQs enhance the clarity and focus of the research, thereby increasing visibility and citation count. Despite the findings, the evidence suggests small effect sizes (φ = 0.138) in terms of the association between RQ and class category and small effect sizes (r = 0.238) in terms of impact difference in citation count, which is no surprise given that extensive number of factors influence the prediction of citation impact.