Evidence gap map

Health Management Glossary

Research Methods

Definition. An evidence gap map is a visual tool that displays the available evidence for a set of interventions and outcomes, highlighting where evidence is plentiful and where gaps exist.

Explanation

Snilstveit and colleagues presented gap maps as a way to inform policy and research agendas (Snilstveit et al., 2016). A recent example mapped 279 publications on diabetes camps to show what is known and what remains unknown (Kurutkan & Arslanoğlu, 2026).

Related concepts

Scoping review Systematic review Bibliometric analysis

Read on The Health Topics

• The Diabetes Camp Paradox: Camps Work, but the Evidence Still Has Blind Spots

References

Kurutkan, M. N., & Arslanoğlu, I. (2026). The diabetes camp paradox: An evidence gap map of 279 publications and the anatomy of known unknowns. Health Expectations, 29, e70833. https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.70833

Snilstveit, B., Vojtkova, M., Bhavsar, A., Stevenson, J., & Gaarder, M. (2016). Evidence & gap maps: A tool for promoting evidence informed policy and strategic research agendas. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 79, 120–129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2016.05.015

Cite this entry: Kurutkan, M. N. (2026). Evidence gap map. In The Health Topics glossary. https://healthtopic.org/glossary/evidence-gap-map/

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