Decentralized and Self-Sovereign Identity: Systematic Mapping Study
Špela Čučko, Muhamed Turkanović
Abstract
Self-Sovereign Identity is an emerging, user-centric, decentralized identity approach utilizing some form of decentralized technology. It provides a means for digital identification without reliance on any external authority, enabling entities to control their identity and data flow during digital interactions while enhancing security and privacy. With the rise of blockchain technology, Self-Sovereign Identity is gathering momentum in academia and industry while the number of research papers increases rapidly. Yet Self-Sovereign Identity is still in a young unstructured field in its early stages of research. Thus, a systematic mapping methodology was adopted to provide a coarse-grained overview of decentralized and Self-Sovereign Identity and structure the research area by identifying, analyzing, and classifying the research papers according to predefined parameters, precisely according to their contribution, application domain, IT field, research type, research method, and place of publication. Furthermore, the nature and scope of the research are determined, meanwhile existing research topics, gained insights into trends, demographics, challenges, gaps, and opportunities for future research are also presented.