# Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality in Exergaming
## 2 Materials and Methods  
To provide a thorough, transparent, and reproducible analysis, this study adopted the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework, which is a standardized method for conducting and reporting systematic reviews and meta-analyses [100], and used a scoping review approach with an emphasis on scientific mapping, bibliometric analysis, and topic modeling to examine the current literature. This approach is deemed effective to explore the current state of the art of broadly defined topics [101; 102], as is the case for this study. Additionally, to better report the findings, the guidelines presented in recent studies were followed [103; 104]. Given the rigor and credibility of Scopus and Web of Science (WoS), their being widely used in similar studies and being highly regarded, these two sources were selected as the databases to identify relevant studies [105; 106]. Another reason was the ability to directly use the data retrieved in the tools selected in this study, since it is supported, without requiring further manual modifications [104; 107], which could hinder the reproducibility and transparency of the study. To examine the studies from different dimensions, the Bibliometrix [104] and VOSviewer [107] tools were used to conduct the bibliometric and scientific mapping analysis of the related studies and to identify additional topics of interest, Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) [108] topic modeling was carried out. The dataset was last updated on 1 st July 2025. The query used to search for relevant studies was the following: (\"virtual reality\" OR \"VR\" OR \"metaverse\" OR \"augmented reality\" OR \"AR\" OR \"mixed reality\" OR \"MR\" or \"extended reality\" OR \"XR\") AND (\"exergam\"). The query ran on a topic level (title, abstract, and keywords) and did not involve any further limitations. To maintain a focused scope and ensure conceptual clarity, we limited our search to studies that explicitly used the term \"exergam\"?. Although not including other synonyms can be regarded as a limitation, it enabled the examination and representation of studies that were grounded specifically in the exergaming context. Additionally, other synonyms of exergaming have a more diverse scope and are used more broadly in the literature, which might have affected retaining a focused scope in this review. Finally, it should be noted that the use of abbreviations resulted in an increased number of studies reported, which were out of scope, but simultaneously ensured that all relevant studies would be identified. The detailed analysis of the steps taken following the guidelines of the PRISMA framework is presented in Figure 2. Specifically, in total, 2110 (Scopus: 1167 and WoS: 943) potentially relevant studies were identified. Given the scope of this study, the inclusion criteria set for a study to be included in this study were for it to be written in English, be a journal article, conference/proceedings paper, or book chapter, and focus primarily on the use of XR technologies, and/or the metaverse in exergaming. Throughout the identification and processing of the related studies, researchers individually carried out each of the steps presented and cross-checked their results. In case of differences, the outcomes were further discussed to ensure that the most appropriate course of action was taken. Initially, 709 studies were excluded as they were duplicates. Hence, 1401 studies were further processed by screening their titles and abstracts. A total of 667 studies were removed as they were out of the scope of this study and 75 more studies were excluded as 56 of them were conference/proceeding collections, 9 were notes or letters, 7 were not written in English, and 3 were errata. Following this step, the full text of 659 studies was examined. Taking the inclusion criteria into consideration, an additional 145 studies were removed as they did not primarily focus on the use of XR technologies or the metaverse in exergaming.