10 Years of Research With and On Hackathons

Hackathon formats have been praised for their potential for promoting innovative thinking and making in a short time-frame. For this reason, hackathons have also been embraced by many researchers who use hackathons as part of their research in various ways. Through an extensive review of 381 publications published during a 10 year time span, we document the multiple ways in which hackathons are embraced and used by researchers The paper contributes to a better understanding of hackathons as part of research by providing a broad overview as a resource for researchers. We identify three main motivations for using hackathons as part of research: 1) Structuring learning, 2) structuring processes, and 3) enabling participation. For each of the motivations, we identify research with hackathons, and research on hackathons as two main categories. Drawing on several examples from the review we discuss benefits and challenges of using hackathons as part of research.