Project selection is a complex, multi-criteria decision-making problem that is critical to the selection of meaningful, manageable, and sustainable projects and is being solved in a variety of contexts such as infrastructure, information systems, and marketing. However, the same diversity could also lead to disconnection where researchers and practitioners are unaware of the work being done on project selection and domains other than their own.

This scoping review followed a systematic five-step process to screen 120 and synthesize 109 articles on project selection to firstly ascertain what research has been done in the field of project selection, where it has been done, and what techniques are the most prevalent amongst researchers.

The main contribution of this research is a ‘cross-pollination matrix’ produced by the synthesis of the literature which will enable researchers and practitioners alike to find either similar work on which they can build or fund innovative new perspectives on a shared and complex problem: the selection of projects that will move the proverbial needle.

The review found that the field is ripe for inter-disciplinary learning with publications spanning 14 different contexts, using 32 different decision-making models delivering a significant amount of case studies and theoretical contributions. Research efforts were dominated by the customization and application of existing project selection models with very little attention given to empirical research on the praxis of project selection. No other scoping reviews were identified during the screening of literature.

lications.