*3.1. Systematic Literature Review*

A complete literature search should not be limited to a single knowledge channel, methodology, journal, or geographical region, but the search should cover all the aspects related to the research topic [74]. Therefore, a systematic literature review method was selected due to the numerous unique procedures in this study. The unique procedures emphasized transparency, a pre-defined research question and protocol, pre-defined search strings, and standard inclusion and exclusion criteria, and justified the data analysis [75]. This study aimed to answer the research question: "What are the key social inclusion indicators supporting the emergence of a citizen-centric smart city?", as elaborated through the research protocols on the subsections below.
