A Systematic Literature Review on Blockchain-based Smart Contracts: Platforms, Applications, and Challenges

Abstract

Blockchain technology has rapidly emerged with a multitude of applications, among which smart contracts have garnered considerable attention. Smart contracts represent a promising solution for streamlining trade and business transactions between untrusted parties without intermediaries. These self-executing pieces of code automatically execute predefined actions when specific conditions are met. Despite the growing enthusiasm for blockchain and smart contracts, researchers believe this powerful combination has not yet reached its full potential. Hence, a systematic study is conducted to explore the various facets of blockchain-based smart contracts comprehensively. The research follows the PRISMA framework and employs two primary approaches: bibliometric analysis and systematic literature review. The process was initiated by formulating targeted search queries within the Scopus database, identifying a total of 1,949 publications spanning from January 2019 to August 2023. Subsequently, a bibliometric analysis was conducted on these publications using VOSviewer and Biblioshiny. Further, the full text of these publications was meticulously screened to isolate those with a significant focus on smart contracts. This led to the identification of 48 publications, each offering unique insights into various smart contract applications. Upon further examination, it was observed that the majority of these publications held rankings within the China Computer Federation, which refers to the qualitative research work in this domain. The study concludes with the current state of blockchain-based smart contracts, their platforms, applications, and challenges and reveals the substantial potential in handling tasks with predefined conditions and security requirements.