eServices Classification, Trends, and Analysis: A Systematic Mapping Study

The concept of eServices originated in the early 2000s in the field of business and commerce. However, in recent years, eServices are being applied in many domains. Therefore, a thorough study on eServices is required to identify the areas in which eServices have been applied till date and to what extent. The main objective of this research is to perform a mapping study to provide an extensive review, gather trends, and identify the state of the art in the research on eServices to answer the research questions designed to conduct this research. A mapping study has been conducted employing an automatic search in digital repositories by developing a mapping protocol. Mapping studies are useful for categorizing and classifying the existing information concerning a particular research question in an unbiased manner. The search procedure identified 806 studies of which 318 were selected for full analysis during the years 2000 and 2016 in the field of computer science. No study was published before this time period. Research on eServices were recorded and classified into tabulated spread sheets, and finally analyzed. According to the study, the range of eService service and application domains is quite wide. Most studies conducted have focused on eService composition and eService Adoption. However, the most common application domains identified were eGovernment, eBusiness, eHealth, and eLearning. The study findings show that the research on eService composition, design, provision, and adoption is increasing with the passage of time. The literature not only discusses various domains of eServices but also provides the in-depth classification, review and trend of eService studies over time.