Retrospectively archived protocol and datasets: A systematic review of hydrogen freight readiness among UK SMEs

This record archives the protocol and supporting datasets for a systematic review of UK evidence published between 2021 and 2025 on hydrogen freight adoption and readiness among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The review is reported under PRISMA 2020. It was not registered prospectively. The protocol was archived retrospectively, after screening, full-text assessment, appraisal and extraction were complete, and it records the methods as carried out, following the structure of PRISMA-P 2015.

Contents

Protocol (version 1.0): aims and review questions, eligibility criteria and decision rules R1–R12, search strategies as run, selection process, quality appraisal with QuADS, data extraction, framework synthesis, verification checks and limitations.

Search records (RIS): Scopus, ProQuest (ABI/INFORM), IEEE Xplore, three Google Scholar queries, TRID and two rounds of citation chasing.

Screening matrix: every record and decision, with the PRISMA 2020 counts. Re-screen results: two intra-rater re-screens of Stage 1 decisions. Supervisor consistency-check record. PRISMA 2020 flow diagram. Extraction and QuADS dataset: study characteristics, 146 coded findings and appraisal scores.

Notes. One human reviewer carried out screening, appraisal and extraction, with AI-assisted checks and a supervisor consistency check described in the protocol. These checks are not equivalent to independent duplicate screening.

Version 1.1. This version adds three files and leaves all other files unchanged. Protocol_amendment_v1.1.pdf records four amendments to the protocol (A1 to A4) without rewriting version 1.0. Cost_assumption_audit.xlsx holds the audit data for amendment A1. Coding_check_results.xlsx holds the data for amendment A2. These are the sampled findings, three sets of codes, agreement statistics and the disagreement log.

Amendments A1 to A3 are post hoc analyses added after the synthesis was complete. A3 is a sensitivity analysis without the five review articles. A4 is administrative.