A framework for linking literature-based knowledge integration and infrastructure-supported knowledge integration: Opportunities and challenges from a case study

Abstract

Integrating knowledge across disciplines is central to sustainability research, yet most evidence-synthesis methods rely on findings as reported in publications, limiting verification and reuse of underlying data and workflows. We develop a conceptual framework linking literature-based and infrastructure-supported knowledge integration, using a systematic review case study to examine when integration can extend beyond reported findings. We reviewed 37 studies on climate change, violent conflict, and household food security. Literature-based synthesis enabled integration across all included studies, whereas access to reusable outputs was limited: over half provided no data availability statement, 27% reported availability upon request, but reusable data and workflows were available for only 8%. To explore infrastructure-supported integration, we used the TIB Knowledge Loom to represent studies with accessible data and code as machine-readable outputs, and produced a knowledge gap map (KGM) from manually extracted and Loom-derived data, comparing manual and infrastructure-supported synthesis. Where outputs were reusable, synthesis could be produced directly from data and workflows rather than from publications. These findings show that literature-based synthesis can be complemented by infrastructure-supported integration where outputs are accessible and usable, and that advancing knowledge integration depends not only on infrastructures but on making data, code, and workflows accessible, executable, and reusable.