stage,count,excluded_count,exclusion_reason
identification_database_search,1200,,"Initial records retrieved from six databases (Scopus, Web of Science, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, arXiv, Google Scholar); search window Jan 2022 - Mar 2026; approximate merged count, per-database counts logged per session but not merged into a single deduplicated total at time of search"
identification_snowballing_additions,60,,"Additional records identified via forward/backward citation-chain snowballing from seminal papers (refs [3], [8], [26], [28]); included in the 1200 approximate total"
deduplication_and_offtopic_removal,400,800,"Removed automated duplicates across databases and entries clearly off-topic (non-LLM, pre-2022 classical MAS with no LLM relevance, non-research items)"
title_abstract_screening,200,200,"Excluded at title/abstract review: single-agent-only work without multi-agent dimension; non-English publications; workshop papers shorter than four pages without an adopted system; blog posts lacking empirical evidence"
full_text_eligibility,120,80,"Excluded at full-text review: did not address orchestration patterns, agent communication protocols, framework design, evaluation, or production deployment; insufficient empirical or conceptual contribution; superseded by a later venue version (preprint dropped in favor of peer-reviewed version)"
included_primary_corpus,80,40,"Final primary references cited in the manuscript; additional 40 contextual references screened through but not cited in the final narrative. Primary breakdown: multi-agent frameworks and systems (22), orchestration patterns and coordination mechanisms (14), communication protocols and standards (8), evaluation benchmarks (11), foundational LLM and agent research (11), industry reports (7), security/safety/alignment (7)"