The DSR-PRISMA protocol: Embedding systematic knowledge mapping into design science research for applied technology studies.

Design Science Research (DSR) studies in applied technology fields often rest on literature reviews that cannot be traced and stop at artifacts that are never abstracted into design knowledge. Both habits damage reproducibility: readers cannot retrace the path from evidence to requirements to artifact, and evaluations drift away from the claims they should test. The DSR-PRISMA Protocol addresses this gap by embedding PRISMA 2020 into the rigor cycle of DSR. The protocol runs in seven phases: problem framing, systematic knowledge mapping, design requirement derivation, artifact design and development, demonstration, evaluation, and design knowledge abstraction. Six worksheet instruments (T1 to T6) document each phase, and three traceability rules connect them: every requirement traces to evidence, every component traces to a requirement, and every claim traces to an evaluation episode. A worked example in AI solution selection for small and medium-sized enterprises runs all seven phases and fills every template. Two mini-scenarios show that the instruments transfer to cybersecurity training and learning analytics, and a qualitative comparison contrasts the protocol with unstructured DSR practice on four reproducibility criteria. The protocol gives authors a documented chain from evidence to design knowledge, and gives reviewers an instrument to audit that chain.-Seven phases take a study from problem framing to design knowledge abstraction, with PRISMA 2020 embedded at the systematic knowledge mapping phase.-A finding-gap-requirement table converts review findings into traceable design requirements, the bridge missing from both DSRM and PRISMA.-Six worksheet templates and an eleven-item reporting checklist let authors and reviewers audit every phase of a DSR study.