@Article{cmc.2026.084893,
AUTHOR = {Indre Grigaraviciute, Nikolaj Goranin},
TITLE = {A Systematic Literature Review on the Application of Gamification in the Field of Information Security},
JOURNAL = {Computers, Materials \& Continua},
VOLUME = {},
YEAR = {},
NUMBER = {},
PAGES = {{pages}},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/cmc/online/detail/27922},
ISSN = {1546-2226},
ABSTRACT = {Gamification has emerged as an effective approach to enhance user engagement and security awareness in the field of information security. This study presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of research published between 2012 and March 2026, analysing publications from two major databases, Scopus and Web of Science (WoS). The review was conducted following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. A comprehensive set of seven keywords: “gamification”, “information security”, “cybersecurity”, “security awareness”, “business security and privacy training”, “security management”, and “incident response”, was used to retrieve relevant studies. A total of 1487 articles were initially identified, of which 955 remained after duplicate removal. Following screening based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria, 77 studies were included in the final systematic literature review. Bibliometric and descriptive analyses were conducted using Mendeley, VOSviewer, ResearchRabbit, and Microsoft Excel. The results show that research is predominantly published in Computer Science and Engineering journals, with the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom contributing the most studies. Conference papers constitute the largest proportion of documents, and most journals fall within the top two SJR quartiles (Q1 and Q2). Key applications of gamification include security awareness training, cybersecurity education for non-IT professionals, incident response, and privacy management, while future research directions emphasise adaptive gamification, integration with emerging technologies, longitudinal studies, and cross-cultural investigations. This study provides a comprehensive overview of the current state and future directions of gamification in information security, contributing to both academic understanding and practical implementation strategies. This article stands out for the research methods used, the novelty of the data, and the assessment of the included studies according to SCImago Journal Rank (SJR).},
DOI = {10.32604/cmc.2026.084893}
}