Author's personal copy Proposing a heuristic reflective tool for reviewing literature in transdisciplinary research for sustainability A. _ Idil Gaziulusoy * , Carol Boyle 1 International Centre for Sustainability Engineering and Research, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand article info Article history: Received 27 January 2011 Received in revised form 14 March 2012 Accepted 15 April 2012 Available online 22 April 2012 Keywords: Transdisciplinary research Research methods PhD education Education for sustainability abstract Projects aiming to solve socially-relevant complex problems in general and sustainability related projects in particular are increasingly approached as transdisciplinary research projects. Reviewing and inte- grating literature and theory across a broad range of disciplines is identified as one of the main quality criteria for transdisciplinary research. Such broad preparation, however, is a major challenge, especially for individual researchers. Even though this challenge has been acknowledged, no systematic way of approaching it has been proposed so far. This paper presents a heuristic tool developed to help individual researchers undertaking transdisciplinary projects in systematic structuring and prioritization of the literature review/reporting process. Using this tool, the transdisciplinary researcher undertakes an iterative, reflective enquiry throughout the research project to identify several literature review filters. A PhD research project, which investigated system innovation for sustainability at product development level, is used as a case study to illustrate the use of the tool. The findings of the case study provided suggestive evidence that the tool addresses the emerging need for a systematic way of reviewing and reporting of literature in transdisciplinary research undertaken by individual researchers effectively. Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Currently the long-term viability of human society is being threatened by sustainability issues. It is now commonly accepted that, in order to achieve sustainability, there is a requirement for societal transformation. Enabling such transformation requires dealing with complex and systemic problems. The specialization in science and fragmentation of knowledge through establishment of disciplinary boundaries and thematic fields contrast with the complex and systemic character of the real-world and its problems as well as with the open structure of ever-evolving knowledge (Hirsch Hadorn et al., 2008; Max-Neef, 2005). In order to address sustainability problems more effectively, several authors empha- sized the need for widening the scope of academic curriculum and research (e.g. Boyle, 1999; Hammer and Söderqvist, 2001; Lozano, 2010; Steiner and Posch, 2006; Wiek et al., 2011). Sustainability and systems related research projects typically require trans- disciplinary approaches (e.g. Hirsch Hadorn et al., 2006, 2008; Jansen, 2003; Späth, 2008; Wickson et al., 2006; Zierhofer and Burger, 2007). Transdisciplinarity is an emerging approach to research and a general understanding is still developing. Summarizing from recent literature, transdisciplinary research projects (Carew and Wickson, 2010; Hirsch Hadorn et al., 2006; Pohl and Hirsch Hadorn, 2008; Späth, 2008; Wiek, 2007): 1. Aim to solve socially-relevant and contextual problems rather than discover generic facts; 2. Have evolving methodologies throughout the research; 3. Transcend boundaries of disciplines and therefore require collaboration and coordination between different disciplines; 4. Generally require participation of or, when this is not possible or feasible, including the perspectives/knowledge of non- scientific stakeholders in research, and; 5. Are normative, i.e. they aim to transform the problem domain. In addition to and as a result of these characteristics, trans- disciplinary research calls for different types of knowledge inte- gration as an overarching requirement. Among these different * Corresponding author. Present Address: Department of Product Design, Auck- land University of Technology, AUT City Campus, 27 St. Paul Street, Auckland, New Zealand. þ64 9 9219999x6628. E-mail addresses: idil.gaziulusoy@aut.ac.nz, agaz002@aucklanduni.ac.nz, dil@ gezgin.com (A. _ I. Gaziulusoy), c.boyle@auckland.ac.nz (C. Boyle). 1 Tel.: þ64 9 373 7599x88210; fax: þ64 9 373 7462. Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Journal of Cleaner Production journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro 0959-6526/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.04.013 Journal of Cleaner Production 48 (2013) 139e147