STAR: a transposition of the PICO framework to environmental sciences, engineering and beyond

STAR: a transposition of the PICO framework to environmental sciences, engineering and beyond | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article STAR: a transposition of the PICO framework to environmental sciences, engineering and beyond Paul Celicourt, Jacob Drapeau, Herlest B. Lovince, Stevens Azima, and 12 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6475550/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The formulation of research questions and the search of relevant bibliographical references are critical steps in the pursuit of evidence-based research. This process ought to be comprehensive, transparent, and reproducible. Furthermore, it must lead to the retrieval of a maximum number of potentially related articles that are subsequently analyzed to identify those that are effectively relevant. However, in environmental sciences, these tasks are often performed without an enabling systematic framework, but relying instead on an assembly of keyword strings and ‘regular expressions’ structured as a Boolean equation. This ad hoc approach often yields an incomplete and inconsistent search of the literature, which undermines the reliability of evidence syntheses. To address this gap, we introduce STAR, a System-Trouble/Treatment-Alternative-Response framework spun off the PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome) framework. STAR is well suited to perform evidence-based literature reviews in environmental sciences supported by robust bibliographical search strategies and research questions. In this paper, we detail the thinking process behind an effective application of STAR through several examples taken from different fields of environmental sciences and engineering (i.e., environmental informatics, hydroinformatics and sociohydrology, entomology and plant pathology, environmental sustainability, soil sciences, coastal sciences, and agrifood sciences). Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences Literature review search strategy search keywords research questions evidence synthesis systematic search Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6475550","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":444847925,"identity":"10bb6f7f-e9c3-4666-b555-2949f0787333","order_by":0,"name":"Paul Celicourt","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA5klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYHACxgNAQoYNwrHhIUoPSAsPREtCGglaIMyEw4SVm7OfMTjAUGPDw8d++Jh05Y/zMubSxx8w/KjBrcWyJweo5VgaDxtPWprkmYTbPJZ9OQaMPcdwazE4ANTC2HCYh02Cx0yyAajF4AwPAzMDGx4t59+AtPyHaTkH1ML+gJnhHx4tN8C2HIBpOQDUwmDAzNiGxy8znhUcSDiWDPJLsmVDWjLIYQYHe/twazHnT9744EONnZx8++GDNxts7OyBDnv44Mc3PA4DEQnoogdwa4BqGQWjYBSMglGAFwAA/2hIeGQ7PWMAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9297-6593","institution":"Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Paul","middleName":"","lastName":"Celicourt","suffix":""},{"id":444847926,"identity":"d9addecb-7ea1-41f3-ac24-d0ca24c3eaf6","order_by":1,"name":"Jacob Drapeau","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jacob","middleName":"","lastName":"Drapeau","suffix":""},{"id":444847927,"identity":"45feb2e5-d5f0-4a72-9fd6-62a349c45c8b","order_by":2,"name":"Herlest B. 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