This paper presents a protocol for conducting a systematic literature review on the application of quantitative methods to resource planning and allocation in Higher Education Institutions. This topic arises from an interest in understanding how quantitative methods are applied to address university resource management challenges. The search focuses on methods used in universities, aiming to obtain preliminary results before conducting a comprehensive literature review. The review covers publications from the beginning of 2000 to the end of 2025, indexed in Web of Science and Scopus. The protocol details the identification process, eligibility criteria, search strategy and selection process in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. This protocol reports its outcome together with the results of the LLM-assisted screening, which serves as a proof of concept of the screening workflow; the eligibility assessment and the synthesis of the included studies remain to be conducted.
Discrete-event simulation (DES) has been widely applied to hospital bed management, yet existing reviews have not systematically examined how these models are designed, validated, and implemented in practice. This protocol specifies the methods for a systematic review of DES models addressing hospital patient flow and bed management. Five research questions guide the review: (i) which patient populations are represented; (ii) which structural and stochastic modeling choices are used; (iii) which validation techniques are reported; (iv) what evidence of real-world implementation is available; and (v) whether models capture whole-hospital interdependencies or remain limited to isolated units. The review follows the Population-Concept-Context framework and PRISMA 2020 reporting standards. The search strategy, structured according to this framework, is applied to Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed. Reporting quality is assessed using the STRESS guidelines for simulation studies. Because hospital settings, simulation software, and outcome metrics are expected to vary substantially across studies, narrative synthesis is the primary analytical approach. The review is expected to consolidate methodological best practices, map validation and implementation gaps, and identify priorities for future research.
En las asignaturas cuantitativas de la educación superior, como la logística, el estudiantado suele afrontar barreras cognitivas importantes ante la abstracción matemática y la resolución de problemas reales. Aunque la Inteligencia Artificial Generativa (GenAI) ofrece un soporte inmediato para resolver algoritmos paso a paso, su uso libre en el aula plantea el riesgo de que el alumno mecanice procesos sin asimilar el trasfondo conceptual. Para abordar esta problemática, este protocolo de investigación presenta un diseño cuasi-experimental cruzado (crossover) orientado a evaluar el impacto de un andamiaje con IA. Se pretende contrastar un itinerario experimental con IA guiada frente a un itinerario de control con instrucción directa tradicional, empleando una muestra de 60 estudiantes de primer curso distribuidos en dos ciclos didácticos (N = 120 registros). Las respuestas se recogieron en cuatro hitos temporales y se evaluarán mediante rúbricas analíticas calibradas según la Taxonomía SOLO. El procesamiento de datos se ejecutará en Jamovi mediante el índice de ganancia de Hake (g) y modelos de ANOVA mixto de medidas repetidas. El estudio busca aislar y demostrar si existe una asimetría cognitiva en el aprendizaje, determinando si el andamiaje con IA equilibra el conocimiento procedimental y conceptual.
This study proposes a multi-phase protocol for conducting a systematic literature review on the adoption of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies in the European tourism sector. The search is focused on qualitative and quantitative studies published between 2015 and 2025, in order to identify research gaps and future research questions. Through the combination of successive phases involving study identification, citation-chasing procedures, criteria-driven screening and statistical text analysis, a consistent bibliographic base is ensured. Analysing the search results, it is identified that research on CSR and sustainability in tourism constitutes a relevant area of study, especially regarding the factors influencing its adoption.
Employee motivation and engagement are interrelated constructs that are critical to productivity, job satisfaction, and employee retention. Although both topics have been thoroughly studied, their theoretical and thematic intersections have not yet been systematically defined. This study uses 2,169 peer-reviewed journal articles to provide a bibliometric analysis of research on employee motivation and engagement from 1972 to 2025. Using the R Bibliometrix, VOSviewer, and Biblioshiny packages, we examine publication trends, important authors and journals, thematic structures, and collaboration networks. The findings indicate significant growth in output and a transition from initial research on organizational commitment and work attitudes to engagement-focused frameworks based on job demands-resources theory and associated organizational and social exchange theories. Keyword and co-citation networks indicate that motivation, employee engagement, work engagement, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction form the conceptual core of the field and are closely related to performance, well-being, and burnout. Future paths that connect engagement and motivation to broader organizational and societal issues include gamification, digital and hybrid work, corporate social responsibility, green HRM, and employee well-being. This review raises issues that require further research and provides insightful material for framing both academic research and evidence-based work practices.
