scan.json (22691B)
1 { 2 "paper": { 3 "title": "The Impact of Artificial Intelligence Enhanced No-Code Software Development Platforms on Software Processes: A Literature Review", 4 "authors": [ 5 "Osman Koç", 6 "İbrahim Yücedağ", 7 "Ümit Şentürk" 8 ], 9 "year": 2025, 10 "venue": "Düzce University Journal of Science & Technology", 11 "doi": "10.29130/dubited.1554356" 12 }, 13 "scan_version": 3, 14 "active_modules": [ 15 "survey_methodology" 16 ], 17 "methodology_tags": [ 18 "meta-analysis", 19 "qualitative" 20 ], 21 "key_findings": "This narrative literature review surveys AI-enhanced no-code/low-code (NCLC) platforms, comparing them against traditional NCLC platforms across features like ease of use, customization, development speed, and cost. The paper provides descriptive comparisons of platforms (BuildFire AI, Akkio, DataRobot, Amazon SageMaker, etc.) and their sector-specific applications (healthcare, finance, education). No original empirical analysis is conducted; findings are drawn entirely from existing literature and platform descriptions, with the main conclusion that AI-NCLC platforms accelerate development and reduce costs but face challenges in data security and transparency.", 22 "checklist": { 23 "artifacts": { 24 "code_released": { 25 "applies": true, 26 "answer": false, 27 "justification": "No code, analysis scripts, or supplementary materials are released. No repository link is provided anywhere in the paper." 28 }, 29 "data_released": { 30 "applies": true, 31 "answer": false, 32 "justification": "No dataset of reviewed papers, search results, or extracted data is released. The corpus of reviewed literature is not made available." 33 }, 34 "environment_specified": { 35 "applies": true, 36 "answer": false, 37 "justification": "No environment or tool specifications are provided. The paper does not describe what tools were used to conduct the review." 38 }, 39 "reproduction_instructions": { 40 "applies": true, 41 "answer": false, 42 "justification": "No reproduction instructions are provided. The review cannot be reproduced because the search methodology, databases, and selection criteria are not documented." 43 } 44 }, 45 "statistical_methodology": { 46 "confidence_intervals_or_error_bars": { 47 "applies": false, 48 "answer": false, 49 "justification": "This is a narrative literature review with no quantitative analysis. No statistical results are produced." 50 }, 51 "significance_tests": { 52 "applies": false, 53 "answer": false, 54 "justification": "No statistical comparisons are performed. The paper is a qualitative survey of platforms." 55 }, 56 "effect_sizes_reported": { 57 "applies": false, 58 "answer": false, 59 "justification": "No quantitative analysis is conducted. No effect sizes are applicable." 60 }, 61 "sample_size_justified": { 62 "applies": false, 63 "answer": false, 64 "justification": "Narrative literature review with no quantitative experiments." 65 }, 66 "variance_reported": { 67 "applies": false, 68 "answer": false, 69 "justification": "No experiments or quantitative analyses are performed." 70 } 71 }, 72 "evaluation_design": { 73 "baselines_included": { 74 "applies": true, 75 "answer": false, 76 "justification": "The paper mentions El Kamouchi et al. (2023) as a prior systematic literature review on NCLC but does not compare its own review against prior surveys or establish how it differs in scope, methodology, or findings." 77 }, 78 "baselines_contemporary": { 79 "applies": false, 80 "answer": false, 81 "justification": "No experimental evaluation is conducted; comparison of survey baselines is covered by baselines_included." 82 }, 83 "ablation_study": { 84 "applies": false, 85 "answer": false, 86 "justification": "This is a literature review with no system components to ablate." 87 }, 88 "multiple_metrics": { 89 "applies": false, 90 "answer": false, 91 "justification": "No experiments or evaluations are conducted." 92 }, 93 "human_evaluation": { 94 "applies": false, 95 "answer": false, 96 "justification": "No evaluation of system outputs is conducted." 97 }, 98 "held_out_test_set": { 99 "applies": false, 100 "answer": false, 101 "justification": "No experiments are conducted." 102 }, 103 "per_category_breakdown": { 104 "applies": true, 105 "answer": true, 106 "justification": "Table 1 provides a feature-by-feature comparison of AI-powered vs traditional NCLC platforms across 12 dimensions. Table 2 breaks down AI-powered NCLC platforms by main focus, key feature, target audience, and usage areas. Section III.A discusses evaluation by usage area across sectors." 107 }, 108 "failure_cases_discussed": { 109 "applies": true, 110 "answer": false, 111 "justification": "Section IV mentions generic challenges (data privacy, transparency, ethical dimensions) but does not discuss specific failure cases from the literature or concrete examples of where AI-NCLC platforms failed." 112 }, 113 "negative_results_reported": { 114 "applies": true, 115 "answer": false, 116 "justification": "No negative results from the reviewed literature are reported. The paper acknowledges challenges but does not cite any study that found AI-NCLC platforms to be ineffective or harmful." 117 } 118 }, 119 "claims_and_evidence": { 120 "abstract_claims_supported": { 121 "applies": true, 122 "answer": false, 123 "justification": "The abstract claims these platforms 'significantly reduce software costs' and 'accelerating software development processes,' but the paper provides no quantitative evidence for these claims. The only quantitative example is a LinkedIn post by Amazon's CEO about Amazon Q savings (Section II.F), which is a corporate marketing claim, not peer-reviewed evidence." 124 }, 125 "causal_claims_justified": { 126 "applies": true, 127 "answer": false, 128 "justification": "The paper makes causal claims throughout, e.g., 'AI-based NCLC platforms... accelerating development processes, reducing costs, and empowering non-technical users' (Section V). These causal claims are not supported by any experimental design or rigorous evidence from the review — they are asserted based on platform descriptions." 129 }, 130 "generalization_bounded": { 131 "applies": true, 132 "answer": false, 133 "justification": "The title claims impact on 'Software Processes' broadly. The paper reviews a handful of platforms without bounding generalization to specific contexts, enterprise sizes, or development scenarios. No scope boundaries constrain the sweeping conclusions." 134 }, 135 "alternative_explanations_discussed": { 136 "applies": true, 137 "answer": false, 138 "justification": "The paper does not consider alternative explanations for the claimed benefits of AI-NCLC platforms. For instance, it does not discuss whether claimed cost reductions could be due to novelty effect, selection bias in case studies, or marketing exaggeration by platform vendors." 139 }, 140 "proxy_outcome_distinction": { 141 "applies": true, 142 "answer": false, 143 "justification": "The paper frames platform features and vendor marketing claims as evidence of 'accelerated development' and 'cost reduction' without distinguishing between what was actually measured in the cited studies and the broader outcomes being claimed. The Amazon Q anecdote (4500 developer-days saved) is a corporate claim treated as empirical evidence." 144 } 145 }, 146 "setup_transparency": { 147 "model_versions_specified": { 148 "applies": false, 149 "answer": false, 150 "justification": "This is a literature review that does not use AI models for experiments." 151 }, 152 "prompts_provided": { 153 "applies": false, 154 "answer": false, 155 "justification": "No prompting is used in this survey." 156 }, 157 "hyperparameters_reported": { 158 "applies": false, 159 "answer": false, 160 "justification": "No experiments are conducted." 161 }, 162 "scaffolding_described": { 163 "applies": false, 164 "answer": false, 165 "justification": "No agentic scaffolding is used." 166 }, 167 "data_preprocessing_documented": { 168 "applies": true, 169 "answer": false, 170 "justification": "The paper does not describe its literature search or selection methodology at all. No search databases, search terms, inclusion/exclusion criteria, or filtering stages are documented. It is unclear how the reviewed papers and platforms were selected." 171 } 172 }, 173 "limitations_and_scope": { 174 "limitations_section_present": { 175 "applies": true, 176 "answer": false, 177 "justification": "There is no dedicated limitations section for the review itself. Section IV discusses challenges of AI-NCLC platforms, but these are limitations of the technology being reviewed, not limitations of the review methodology." 178 }, 179 "threats_to_validity_specific": { 180 "applies": true, 181 "answer": false, 182 "justification": "No threats to validity of the review are discussed. There is no acknowledgment of potential biases in the literature selection, vendor marketing influence, or other methodological concerns." 183 }, 184 "scope_boundaries_stated": { 185 "applies": true, 186 "answer": false, 187 "justification": "The paper does not explicitly state what the review does not cover. There are no boundary statements about which types of platforms, industries, or geographic contexts are excluded from the scope." 188 } 189 }, 190 "data_integrity": { 191 "raw_data_available": { 192 "applies": true, 193 "answer": false, 194 "justification": "No raw data such as a list of all reviewed papers, search results, or extracted data tables is made available." 195 }, 196 "data_collection_described": { 197 "applies": true, 198 "answer": false, 199 "justification": "The literature collection methodology is not described. No databases searched, search terms used, time periods covered, or inclusion/exclusion criteria are provided." 200 }, 201 "recruitment_methods_described": { 202 "applies": true, 203 "answer": false, 204 "justification": "For a survey, the 'sample' is the set of reviewed papers and platforms. The paper does not describe how these were identified or selected. The selection appears ad-hoc." 205 }, 206 "data_pipeline_documented": { 207 "applies": true, 208 "answer": false, 209 "justification": "No documentation of the review pipeline exists. The paper goes directly from 'we reviewed the literature' to presenting platform descriptions without explaining the selection or analysis process." 210 } 211 }, 212 "conflicts_of_interest": { 213 "funding_disclosed": { 214 "applies": true, 215 "answer": false, 216 "justification": "No funding source is mentioned anywhere in the paper. There is no acknowledgments or funding section." 217 }, 218 "affiliations_disclosed": { 219 "applies": true, 220 "answer": true, 221 "justification": "Author affiliations are clearly listed: Düzce University (Koç, Yücedağ) and Abant Izzet Baysal University (Şentürk). These are academic institutions with no apparent connection to the platforms reviewed." 222 }, 223 "funder_independent_of_outcome": { 224 "applies": false, 225 "answer": false, 226 "justification": "No funding is disclosed, and this appears to be standard unfunded university research." 227 }, 228 "financial_interests_declared": { 229 "applies": true, 230 "answer": false, 231 "justification": "No competing interests or financial interests statement is included in the paper." 232 } 233 }, 234 "contamination": { 235 "training_cutoff_stated": { 236 "applies": false, 237 "answer": false, 238 "justification": "This is a literature review that does not evaluate any pre-trained model on a benchmark." 239 }, 240 "train_test_overlap_discussed": { 241 "applies": false, 242 "answer": false, 243 "justification": "No model evaluation is performed." 244 }, 245 "benchmark_contamination_addressed": { 246 "applies": false, 247 "answer": false, 248 "justification": "No benchmark evaluation is conducted." 249 } 250 }, 251 "human_studies": { 252 "pre_registered": { 253 "applies": false, 254 "answer": false, 255 "justification": "No human participants are involved in this literature review." 256 }, 257 "irb_or_ethics_approval": { 258 "applies": false, 259 "answer": false, 260 "justification": "No human participants are involved." 261 }, 262 "demographics_reported": { 263 "applies": false, 264 "answer": false, 265 "justification": "No human participants are involved." 266 }, 267 "inclusion_exclusion_criteria": { 268 "applies": false, 269 "answer": false, 270 "justification": "No human participants are involved." 271 }, 272 "randomization_described": { 273 "applies": false, 274 "answer": false, 275 "justification": "No human participants are involved." 276 }, 277 "blinding_described": { 278 "applies": false, 279 "answer": false, 280 "justification": "No human participants are involved." 281 }, 282 "attrition_reported": { 283 "applies": false, 284 "answer": false, 285 "justification": "No human participants are involved." 286 } 287 }, 288 "cost_and_practicality": { 289 "inference_cost_reported": { 290 "applies": false, 291 "answer": false, 292 "justification": "This is a survey paper with no method of its own to cost." 293 }, 294 "compute_budget_stated": { 295 "applies": false, 296 "answer": false, 297 "justification": "This is a survey paper with no computational experiments." 298 } 299 }, 300 "survey_methodology": { 301 "prisma_or_structured_protocol": { 302 "applies": true, 303 "answer": false, 304 "justification": "The paper does not follow PRISMA or any structured review protocol. There is no flow diagram, no registered protocol, no systematic search strategy with reproducible queries. The review methodology is entirely undocumented." 305 }, 306 "quality_assessment_of_sources": { 307 "applies": true, 308 "answer": false, 309 "justification": "The paper does not assess the quality of its source materials. Platform vendor websites, Medium blog posts, LinkedIn posts, and peer-reviewed papers are all treated as equally credible evidence." 310 }, 311 "publication_bias_discussed": { 312 "applies": true, 313 "answer": false, 314 "justification": "No discussion of publication bias. The paper does not acknowledge that its sources skew toward positive results about AI-NCLC platforms or that negative findings may be underrepresented." 315 } 316 } 317 }, 318 "claims": [ 319 { 320 "claim": "AI-based NCLC platforms significantly accelerate software development processes and reduce costs compared to traditional methods.", 321 "evidence": "The primary evidence is an anecdote from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy (Section II.F, ref [30]) claiming Amazon Q saved the equivalent of 4500 developer-days per year by converting a Java application. No controlled study or systematic evidence is cited.", 322 "supported": "weak" 323 }, 324 { 325 "claim": "AI-powered NCLC platforms offer significant advantages over traditional NCLC platforms in ease of use, customization, automation, and scalability.", 326 "evidence": "Table 1 (Section III) provides a feature comparison across 12 dimensions, but the comparisons are qualitative assertions (e.g., 'High' vs 'Medium') without empirical backing or citations for each comparison point.", 327 "supported": "weak" 328 }, 329 { 330 "claim": "Non-technical users can develop complex applications using AI-based NCLC platforms.", 331 "evidence": "Discussed throughout the paper with platform descriptions (BuildFire AI, Google Teachable Machine, etc.) in Section II.F, but no user studies or empirical evidence is cited to support this claim for AI-enhanced platforms specifically.", 332 "supported": "weak" 333 }, 334 { 335 "claim": "The low-code development technologies market will reach $26.9 billion (Gartner forecast).", 336 "evidence": "Cited from Gartner's 2024 report (ref [2]) in Section I. This is a market forecast from an industry analyst, not an empirical finding of the review.", 337 "supported": "moderate" 338 } 339 ], 340 "red_flags": [ 341 { 342 "flag": "No systematic review methodology", 343 "detail": "Despite calling itself a 'literature review,' the paper follows no systematic protocol. No search databases, search terms, inclusion/exclusion criteria, or paper selection process is described. This makes the review non-reproducible and prone to selection bias." 344 }, 345 { 346 "flag": "Reliance on non-peer-reviewed sources", 347 "detail": "Key evidence includes a LinkedIn post by Amazon's CEO (ref [30]), Medium blog posts (refs [6], [7]), and vendor websites (refs [32]-[43]). These are marketing materials and personal opinion, not peer-reviewed evidence." 348 }, 349 { 350 "flag": "Claims significantly outrun evidence", 351 "detail": "The paper makes strong causal claims about cost reduction and development acceleration based on platform descriptions and a single corporate anecdote. No empirical studies are cited that rigorously demonstrate these benefits." 352 }, 353 { 354 "flag": "No quality assessment of reviewed literature", 355 "detail": "The paper treats all sources—from peer-reviewed publications to vendor marketing pages—as equally credible. This launders the credibility of weaker sources through association with legitimate research." 356 }, 357 { 358 "flag": "Uncritical presentation of vendor claims", 359 "detail": "Platform descriptions (BuildFire AI, Akkio, DataRobot, etc.) read like marketing summaries rather than critical assessments. No independent evaluation of platform claims is conducted or cited." 360 } 361 ], 362 "cited_papers": [ 363 { 364 "title": "Low-code/No-code Development: A systematic literature review", 365 "authors": [ 366 "H. El Kamouchi", 367 "M. Kissi", 368 "O. El Beggar" 369 ], 370 "year": 2023, 371 "doi": "10.1109/SITA60746.2023.10373712", 372 "relevance": "Systematic literature review on low-code/no-code development, directly relevant to understanding NCLC platforms' impact on software processes." 373 }, 374 { 375 "title": "Using GitHub Copilot to Solve Simple Programming Problems", 376 "authors": [ 377 "M. Wermelinger" 378 ], 379 "year": 2023, 380 "doi": "10.1145/3545945.3569830", 381 "relevance": "Empirical evaluation of AI code generation tool (GitHub Copilot) on programming tasks, relevant to AI-assisted software development." 382 }, 383 { 384 "title": "GPT-4 Technical Report", 385 "authors": [ 386 "OpenAI" 387 ], 388 "year": 2023, 389 "arxiv_id": "2303.08774", 390 "relevance": "Foundational LLM technical report underpinning many AI code generation tools discussed in the survey." 391 }, 392 { 393 "title": "Software Engineering for AI-Based Systems: A Survey", 394 "authors": [ 395 "S. Martínez-Fernández" 396 ], 397 "year": 2022, 398 "doi": "10.1145/3487043", 399 "relevance": "Survey on software engineering practices for AI-based systems, relevant to understanding how AI integration affects development processes." 400 }, 401 { 402 "title": "Software engineering for artificial intelligence and machine learning software: A systematic literature review", 403 "authors": [ 404 "A. N. Duc", 405 "I. Sundbø", 406 "E. Nascimento", 407 "A. Nguyen-Duc", 408 "T. Conte" 409 ], 410 "doi": "10.48550/arXiv.2011.03751", 411 "relevance": "Systematic literature review on SE for AI/ML software, relevant to survey methodology and AI development practices." 412 }, 413 { 414 "title": "Evaluating the Impact of No-Code/Low-Code Backend Services on API Development and Implementation: A Case Study Approach", 415 "authors": [ 416 "P. Dhoke", 417 "P. Lokulwar" 418 ], 419 "year": 2023, 420 "doi": "10.1109/ICCCNT56998.2023.10306945", 421 "relevance": "Case study evaluating NCLC backend services for API development, relevant to empirical assessment of no-code platform capabilities." 422 }, 423 { 424 "title": "Algorithms in Low-Code-No-Code for Research Applications: A Practical Review", 425 "authors": [ 426 "F. Sufi" 427 ], 428 "year": 2023, 429 "doi": "10.3390/a16020108", 430 "relevance": "Review of algorithmic capabilities in NCLC platforms for research, relevant to understanding practical applications of low-code tools." 431 }, 432 { 433 "title": "The Llama 3 Herd of Models", 434 "authors": [ 435 "A. Grattafiori" 436 ], 437 "year": 2024, 438 "arxiv_id": "2407.21783", 439 "relevance": "Technical report on the Llama 3 model family, relevant as one of the LLMs compared for code generation capabilities." 440 }, 441 { 442 "title": "Qwen2.5-Coder Technical Report", 443 "authors": [ 444 "B. Hui" 445 ], 446 "year": 2024, 447 "arxiv_id": "2409.12186", 448 "relevance": "Technical report on a code-specialized LLM, relevant to AI code generation capabilities discussed in the survey." 449 } 450 ], 451 "engagement_factors": { 452 "practical_relevance": { 453 "score": 1, 454 "justification": "Discusses platforms practitioners might use but provides no actionable selection framework or empirical guidance." 455 }, 456 "surprise_contrarian": { 457 "score": 0, 458 "justification": "Confirms the expected narrative that AI-NCLC platforms are useful and growing; no contrarian findings." 459 }, 460 "fear_safety": { 461 "score": 0, 462 "justification": "Mentions data security concerns briefly but presents no novel risks or threat analysis." 463 }, 464 "drama_conflict": { 465 "score": 0, 466 "justification": "No controversy or conflict; entirely promotional in tone toward AI-NCLC platforms." 467 }, 468 "demo_ability": { 469 "score": 0, 470 "justification": "No code, demo, or tool is provided." 471 }, 472 "brand_recognition": { 473 "score": 1, 474 "justification": "Mentions well-known products (ChatGPT, Amazon Q, Google Teachable Machine) but is from a regional Turkish university journal." 475 } 476 } 477 }