A Critical Appraisal of Review Studies in Circular Economy: a Tertiary Study

Abstract

The importance of the circular economy has greatly increased in the past few years, and consequently, the interest in the circular economy as a research field has also increased, which led to an exponential growth in the number of literature reviews on the subject with different purposes. In order to analyze the topics that have been studied and assess the quality of these secondary reviews, this study carried out a tertiary literature review on the subject. This study identified the literature reviews on the circular economy, the most frequently cited papers, and the main research topics in the field. We have also analyzed the types of research questions that have been proposed by secondary studies. Finally, we evaluated the extent to which secondary reviews have assessed the quality of primary studies. We found out that literature reviews on the circular economy are frequently related to the areas of supply chain and technology. We also concluded that there is a need for designing research questions that explore more complex relationships, since most questions are descriptive or process-related. Some research questions are proposed to guide future studies. We also observed that secondary studies have failed to appropriately assess the quality of primary studies.

Appendix A. Secondary studies information

Study Id	Reference	Period cover	# of primary studies
[1]	[109]	2003–2019	121
[2]	[65]	2001–2020	1155
[3]	[110]	2009–2019	80
[4]	[111]	2009–2018	214
[5]	[112]	2011–2019	45
[6]	[113]	2013–2017	474
[7]	[71]	-	-
[8]	[51]	-	52
[9]	[114]	2011–2018	1411
[10]	[115]	2013–2019	10
[11]	[116]	2015–2019	33
[12]	[117]	2001–2019	-
[13]	[118]	1995–2017	47
[14]	[119]	-	42
[15]	[120]	2013–2017	-
[16]	[121]	2013–2017	25
[17]	[122]	2000–2016	46
[18]	[123]	2000–2018	134
[19]	[124]	1992–2017	49
[20]	[125]	2000–2015	170
[21]	[126]	1987–2015	163
[22]	[127]	1995–2014	115
[23]	[128]	1997–2013	189
[24]	[129]	1984–2012	167
[25]	[130]	1990–2011	81
[26]	[131]	1997–2012	62
[27]	[132]	2000–2010	87
[28]	[133]	1994–2009	125
[29]	[134]	2011–2015	-
[30]	[135]	2006–2016	62
[31]	[136]	1985–2015	104
[32]	[137]	2004–2018	56
[33]	[138]	2005–2018	69
[34]	[139]	2015–2019	45
[35]	[26]	2009–2018	45
[36]	[85]	1999–2019	31
[37]	[140]	2009–2019	92
[38]	[9]	2010–2020	151
[39]	[141]	2000–2019	89
[40]	[142]	2002–2020	95
[41]	[36]	2006–2019	318
[42]	[143]	2004–2018	302
[43]	[13]	2004–2018	215
[44]	[64]	2001–2014	84
[45]	[144]	2007–2013	382
[46]	[33]	2007–2020	107
[47]	[40]	2010–2019	215
[48]	[58]	2004–2017	617
[49]	[145]	2009–2019	33
[50]	[61]	-	64
[51]	[103]	2012–2020	81
[52]	[146]	2001–2018	35
[53]	[60]	2010–2020	64
[54]	[147]	1998–2014	144
[55]	[148]	2016–2020	38
[56]	[149]	2016–2020	30
[57]	[102]	2000–2018	283
[58]	[150]	1992–2015	141
[59]	[151]	1981–2015	33
[60]	[38]	2000–2019	61
[61]	[152]	2007–2018	46
[62]	[153]	2007–2020	80
[63]	[57]	1999–2019	80
[64]	[154]	2004–2015	54
[65]	[12]	1994–2019	160
[66]	[72]	2011–2020	40
[67]	[67]	2003–2018	53
[68]	[11]	2006–2016	67
[69]	[10]	2013–2019	253
[70]	[59]	2006–2016	60
[71]	[14]	2008–2019	333
[72]	[66]	2008–2018	214
[73]	[37]	2000–2019	115
[74]	[7]	2004–2014	155
[75]	[49]	2000–2018	158
[76]	[69]	-	-
[77]	[4]	2000–2019	2279
[78]	[47]	2006–2018	261
[79]	[1]	2006–2015	70
[80]	[28]	2002–2019	109
[81]	[155]	1997–2017	157
[82]	[156]	2000–2018	59
[83]	[157]	1982–2019	57
[84]	[158]	2013–2018	133
[85]	[24]	-	38
[86]	[31]	2011–2020	39
[87]	[43]	2011–2021	3348
[88]	[29]	2000–2020	64