Purpose–In this article, we have conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) on research indexes, in order to descry their acceptance and usage within the scientific community, as well as the tools and the metrics most frequently employed.
Design/methodology/approach–The presented SLR followed the PRISMA framework [2] and the methodology described by Kitchenham [1]. Based on a set of research questions, a number of queries were set on the most prominent research databases, so as to retrieve the respective research publications.
Findings–According to the outcomes of our SLR, researchers utilize all three research databases, while showing a preference for Scopus.
Originality/value–The paper presents a systematic literature review of the publications related to research databases so as to gain insights about the current state of searching, retrieval, evaluation, and exploitation of the research publications and the related information by academics.