Blockchain-Based Accountability: A Systematic Literature Review
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
The Blockchain algorithm has advanced the accountability and transparency of modern digital infrastructures. Enforcing responsible behavior and data integrity across distributed environments involves several key components, such as smart contracts, access control models, cryptographic techniques, and a decentralized identity framework. Because the blockchain ledger is immutable and transparent, once a transaction is recorded, it cannot be altered without detection, making fraudulent actions easily traceable and thereby ensuring accountability. However, the need for hybrid approaches that combine on-chain and off-chain solutions for an efficient reliability system introduces challenges, including privacy preservation, scalability, and regulatory compliance. This paper analyzes the effective features that enhance blockchain accountability, such as immutability, traceability, auditability, and decentralized control. We propose research gap directions for the research community. To improve the reliability of blockchain systems across various domains, based on a systematic analysis and integration of recent developments and real-world demands. Consequently, we have distinguished 33 relevant research studies from a total of 358 publications covering the period between 2020 and 2025 by employing the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework. We identified three major themes addressed by the papers in the reviewed studies: further investigations into the ML role in enhancing accountability are required, especially using lightweight ML algorithms such as BNN and Tseltin machine, examining the limitations of blockchain’s auditability for real-time applications and decision-making efficiency, and a practical study of mechanism scalability in trade-off cost-efficiency.
Article Details
Issue
Section
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
References
[1] S. Nakamoto, “Bitcoin: A peer-to-peer electronic cash system,” Cryptography Mailing list at https://metzdowd.com, 03 2009.
[2] F. Casino et al., “A systematic literature review of blockchain-based applications: Current status, classification and open issues,” Telematics and Informatics, vol. 36, pp. 55–81, 2019.
[3] T. Aste et al., “Blockchain technologies: The foreseeable impact on society and industry,” Computer, vol. 50, pp. 18–28, 01 2017.
[4] A. Akram et al., “Trust, privacy and transparency with block-chain technology in logistics,” 09 2018.
[5] R. Batubara et al., “Unraveling transparency and accountability in blockchain,” ser. ACM International Conference Proceeding Series. ACM, 2019, pp. 204–213.
[6] S. B et al., “Blockchain industry 5.0: Next generation smart contract and decentralized application platform,” in IEEE ICSES, 2022, pp. 1–8.
[7] M. Subhy et al., “Blockchain technology and internet of things: review, challenge and security concern,” IJECE, vol. 13, p. 718, 02 2023.
[8] Z. Cui et al., “A hybrid blockchain-based identity authentication scheme for multi-wsn,” IEEE TSC, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 241–251, 2020.
[9] S. Baker and A. Nori, “A secure proof of work to enhance scalability and transaction speed in blockchain technology for iot,” 01 2023, p. 040008.
[10] A. Alghuried et al., “Blockchain security and privacy: Threats, challenges, applications, and tools,” Distrib. Ledger Technol., Feb 2025.
[11] T. Savelyeva et al., “Blockchain technology for sustainable education,” BJET, vol. 53, no. 6, pp. 1591–1604, 2022.
[12] N. Sultan et al., “Container-based virtualization for blockchain technology: A survey,” JJCIT, vol. 9, p. 1, 09 2023.
[13] N. Z. Tawfeeq, W. S. Abed, and O. G. Ghazal, “A semantic model of morphological information retrieval: A comparative accumulative analysis,” in 2020 2nd Annual International Conference on Information and Sciences (AiCIS), 2020, pp. 1–6.
[14] N. A. Sultan et al., “Blockchain-based framework for secure monitoring of vehicles traffic flow system,” in IEEE COMNETSAT, 2023, p. 226.
[15] U. Rahardja et al., “Blockchain application in educational certificates and verification compliant with general data protection regulations,” in 10th CITSM, 2022, pp. 1–7.
[16] J. M. Song et al., “Applications of blockchain to improve supply chain traceability,” Procedia Computer Science, vol. 162, pp. 119–122, 2019.
[17] O. Ghazal et al., “Tinyml: Applications, algorithms, hardware/software co-design and implementations,” in Smart and Connected Healthcare. Springer, 2025, in Press.
[18] B. Borah et al., “Blockchain-enabled heartcare framework for cardiovascular disease diagnosis in devices with constrained resources,” IEEE Transactions on Services Computing, vol. PP, pp. 1–14, 11 2024.
[19] R. Jafari Gohari et al., “Ctmbids: Convolutional tsetlin machine based intrusion detection system for ddos attacks in an sdn environment,” arXiv preprint arXiv:2409.03544, 2024, arXiv:2409.03544v1.
[20] F. Alibrahimi et al., “Intrusion detection in software-defined networks: Leveraging deep reinforcement learning with graph convolutional networks for resilient infrastructure,” Fusion Practice and Applications, vol. 15, pp. 78–87, 02 2024.
[21] F. Hazzaa et al., “Performance analysis of advanced encryption standards for voice cryptography with multiple patterns,” International Journal of Safety and Security Engineering, vol. 14, no. 5, pp. 1439–1446, 2024.
[22] F. Hazzaa et al., “A new lightweight cryptosystem for IoT in smart city environments,” Mesopotamian Journal of CyberSecurity, vol. 4, pp. 174–186, Oct. 2024.
[23] M. Borrego et al., “Systematic literature reviews in engineering education and other developing interdisciplinary fields,” JEE, vol. 103, no. 1, pp. 45–76, 2014.
[24] M. Moher, “Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: The prisma statement,” Annals of Internal Medicine, vol. 151, no. 4, pp. 264–269, 2009.
[25] H. Han et al., “Accounting and auditing with blockchain technology and artificial intelligence: A literature review,” IJAIS, vol. 48, p. 100598, 2023.
[26] A. R. Sai et al., “Taxonomy of centralization in public blockchain systems: A systematic literature review,” Information Processing & Management, vol. 58, no. 4, p. 102584, 2021.
[27] E. Tan et al., “Blockchain governance in the public sector: A conceptual framework for public management,” Government Information Quarterly, vol. 39, no. 1, p. 101625, 2022.
[28] A. Rustemi et al., “A systematic literature review on blockchain-based systems for academic certificate verification,” IEEE Access, vol. 11, pp. 64679–64696, 2023.
[29] M. N. M. Bhutta et al., “A survey on blockchain technology: Evolution, architecture and security,” IEEE Access, vol. 9, pp. 61048–61073, 2021.
[30] T. K. Dahariya et al., “Enhancing livestock supply chains with blockchain traceability from source to market: A survey,” in IESIC, 2025.
[31] S. Sheela et al., “Navigating the future: Blockchain’s impact on accounting and auditing practices,” Sustainability, vol. 15, no. 24, 2023.
[32] A. T. Polcumpally et al., “Blockchain governance and trust: A multi-sector thematic systematic review and exploration of future research directions,” Heliyon, vol. 10, no. 12, p. e32975, 2024.
[33] S. J. Shabu et al., “Enhanced blockchain-based decentralized public auditing for cloud storage,” in ICOECA, 2024, pp. 107–111.
[34] G. Indiravathi et al., “Enhancing data privacy and accountability in smart grids with blockchain technology,” in ICEECT, vol. 1, 2024, pp. 1–6.
[35] P. Zhu et al., “Using blockchain technology to enhance the traceability of original achievements,” IEEE TEM, vol. 70, no. 5, 2023.
[36] J. Hu et al., “Redact4trace: A solution for auditing the data and tracing the users in the redactable blockchain,” Computer Networks, vol. 245, p. 110360, 2024.
[37] I. P. S. Setiawan et al., “Enhancing security, privacy, and traceability in indonesia’s national health insurance claims process using blockchain technology,” in ICoABCD, 2023, pp. 77–82.
[38] G. Jeong et al., “Azeroth: Auditable zero-knowledge transactions in smart contracts,” IEEE Access, vol. 11, pp. 56463–56480, 2023.
[39] A. Alamsyah et al., “Enhancing privacy and traceability of public health insurance claim system using blockchain technology,” Frontiers in Blockchain, vol. 8, p. 1474434, 2025.
[40] Y. Xu et al., “Pirb: Privacy-preserving identity-based redactable blockchains with accountability,” Electronics, vol. 12, no. 18, 2023.
[41] A. K. Bapatla et al., “Pharmachain 3.0: Efficient tracking and tracing of drugs in pharmaceutical supply chain using blockchain integrated product serialization mechanism,” SN Computer Science, vol. 5, no. 1, p. 149, 2024.
[42] M. Banu et al., “A machine learning approach for enhanced security using blockchain in finance auditing services,” in 15th ICCCNT, 2024.
[43] V. Sharma et al., “Enhancing traceability in agricultural supply chain using blockchain technology,” IJIEEB, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 11–21, 2024.
[44] Q. Tang, “Towards using blockchain technology to prevent diploma fraud,” IEEE Access, vol. 9, pp. 168678–168688, 2021.
[45] A. Guayasamín et al., “Blockchain-enhanced e-ticket distribution system to effective transactions, validation, and audits,” in 8th CSNet, 2024.
[46] Z. Liu et al., “A secure and reliable blockchain-based audit log system,” in IEEE ICC, 2024, pp. 2010–2015.
[47] E. M. Alotaibi et al., “Blockchain-driven carbon accountability in supply chains,” Sustainability, vol. 16, no. 24, 2024.
[48] H. Zeng et al., “A federated learning framework with blockchain-based auditable participant selection,” CMC, vol. 79, no. 3, pp. 5125–5142, 2024.
[49] C.-L. Chen et al., “Constructing a secure charity nft auction platform using fisco bcos blockchain for enhancing transparency and traceability,” IEEE Access, vol. 12, pp. 36924–36941, 2024.
[50] S. Y. A. Zaidi et al., “An attribute-based access control for iot using blockchain and smart contracts,” Sustainability, vol. 13, no. 19, 2021.
[51] Y. Wang et al., “Spds: A secure and auditable private data sharing scheme for smart grid based on blockchain,” IEEE Trans. on Industrial Informatics, vol. 17, no. 11, pp. 7688–7699, 2021.
[52] U. V et al., “Enhancing health product traceability on the blockchain: A novel approach for supply chain management inspection to ai,” EAI Endorsed Transactions on Pervasive Health and Technology, 03 2024.
[53] Y. Zhao, “Audit data traceability and verification system based on blockchain technology and deep learning,” in TELEPE, 2024, pp. 77–82.
[54] C. Zhang et al., “A blockchain-based multi-cloud storage data auditing scheme to locate faults,” IEEE TCC, vol. 10, no. 4, 2022.
[55] Z. Shi et al., “Auditem: Toward an automated and efficient data integrity verification model using blockchain,” 2022. [Online]. Available: https://arxiv.org/abs/2207.00370
[56] R. Hortelano-Haro et al., “Harnessing blockchain technology to enhance trust and traceability in wine trading among wineries,” IT Professional, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 80–88, 2024.
[57] M. J. Fernández-Iglesias et al., “Efficient traceability systems with smart contracts: Balancing on-chain and off-chain data storage for enhanced scalability and privacy,” Applied Sciences, vol. 14, no. 23, 2024.
[58] R. Konapure et al., “Traceability and verification to prevent counterfeit drugs: A secure, efficient pharma supply chain with iot-enabled blockchain and smart contracts,” IJECE, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 33–43, 2025.
[59] V. Mothukuri et al., “Blockhdfs: Blockchain-integrated hadoop distributed file system for secure provenance traceability,” Blockchain: Research and Applications, vol. 2, no. 4, p. 100032, 2021.
[60] S. Xiao et al., “Blockchain-based framework for secure sharing of cross-border trade data,” CMC, vol. 83, no. 2, pp. 2351–2373, 2025.
[61] W. Serrano, “Verification and validation for data marketplaces via a blockchain and smart contracts,” Blockchain: Research and Applications, vol. 3, no. 4, p. 100100, 2022.
[62] Y. Tian et al., “Accountable fine-grained blockchain rewriting in the permissionless setting,” 04 2021.
[63] E. Yigit and T. Dag, “Improving supply chain management processes using smart contracts in the ethereum network written in solidity,” Applied Sciences, vol. 14, no. 11, 2024.
[64] S. Peng et al., “Enhancing cross-border data sharing in blockchain networks: A compliance-centric approach ensuring anonymity and traceability,” in 3rd CCSB, 2023, pp. 200–204.
[65] N. B. Junaidi et al., “Design and implementation of blockchain-based smart contracts for enhancing ancillary services management in electricity markets,” in IEEE PECon, 2024, pp. 76–81.
[66] W. Cram et al., “(re)considering the concept of literature review reproducibility,” JAIS, vol. 21, 09 2020.
[67] S. Dhall et al., “Blockchain-based framework for reducing fake or vicious news spread on social media/messaging platforms,” Association for Computing Machinery, vol. 21, no. 1, Nov. 2021.
[68] Y. Chen et al., “Towards trusted social networks with blockchain technology,” 2018. [Online]. Available: https://arxiv.org/abs/1801.02796 [69] A. Al Salih et al., “Bdls as a blockchain finality gadget: Improving byzantine fault tolerance in hyperledger fabric,” IEEE Access, 2024.
[70] M. Memon et al., “Blockchain beyond bitcoin: Blockchain technology challenges and real-world applications,” in iCCECE, 2018, pp. 29–34.
[71] P. Kochovski et al., “Trust management in a blockchain based fog computing platform with trustless smart oracles,” FGCS, vol. 101, pp. 747–759, 2019.
[72] D. Di Francesco Maesa et al., “A blockchain based approach for the definition of auditable access control systems,” Computers Security, vol. 84, pp. 93–119, 2019.
[73] K. Nabben et al., “Accountability protocols? on-chain dynamics in blockchain governance,” IPR, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 1–22, 2024.
[74] L. Hughes et al., “Understanding accountability in blockchain systems,” Accounting, Auditing Accountability Journal, vol. 34, no. 6, 2021.
[75] P. Verma et al., “Mrdace: An intelligent architecture for secure sharing and traceability of the medical images and patients’ records,” ACM HEALTH, vol. 6, no. 3, May 2025.
[76] M. Zichichi et al., “Accountable clouds through blockchain,” IEEE Access, vol. 11, pp. 48358–48374, 2023.
[77] Z. Liu et al., “Data integrity audit scheme based on quad merkle tree and blockchain,” IEEE Access, vol. 11, pp. 59263–59273, 2023.
[78] I. Mustafa et al., “Smart contract life-cycle management: an engineering framework for the generation of robust and verifiable smart contracts,” Frontiers in Blockchain, vol. 6, p. 1276233, 2024.
[79] T. Weingärtner et al., “Prototyping a smart contract based public procurement to fight corruption,” Computers, vol. 10, no. 7, 2021.
[80] S. Mohammed and D. Basheer, “Privacy preserving algorithm using chao-scattering of partial homomorphic encryption,” Journal of Physics: Conference Series, vol. 1963, p. 012154, 07 2021.
[81] B. T. Hasan et al., “Real-time resource monitoring framework in a heterogeneous kubernetes cluster,” in 2022 Muthanna International Conference on Engineering Science and Technology (MICEST), 2022, pp. 184–189.
[82] U. Chohan, “Blockchain enhancing political accountability? sierra leone 2018 case,” SSRN Electronic Journal, 01 2018.
[83] A. Canciani et al., “Hybrid dlt as a data layer for real-time, data-intensive applications,” 2023.
[84] A. Shahaab et al., “A hybrid blockchain implementation to ensure data integrity and interoperability for public service organisations,” in IEEE International Conference on Blockchain, 2021, pp. 295–305.
[85] O. Can et al., “A blockchain-based hybrid architecture for auditable consent management,” IEEE Access, vol. 12, pp. 100419–100445, 2024.
[86] G. Misiakoulis et al., “Enhancing security and scalability in electronic voting through privacy-preserving cryptography and efficient data structures,” in 2024 IEEE International Conference on Blockchain (Blockchain), 2024, pp. 631–636.
[87] B. Zhang et al., “A blockchain and zero knowledge proof based data security transaction method in distributed computing,” Electronics, vol. 13, p. 4260, 2024.
[88] X. Hu et al., “Optimized cross-chain transactions with aggregated zero-knowledge proofs: Enhancing efficiency and security,” IEEE Internet of Things Journal, vol. 12, no. 9, pp. 11495–11510, 2025.
[89] H. Eren et al., “Security challenges and performance trade-offs in on-chain and off-chain blockchain storage: A comprehensive review,” Applied Sciences, vol. 15, no. 6, 2025.
[90] M. Xiao et al., “Advanced security auditing methods for solidity-based smart contracts,” Electronics, vol. 13, no. 20, 2024.
[91] N. Nousias et al., “A process-aware approach for blockchain-based verification of academic qualifications,” Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory, vol. 121, p. 102642, 2022.
[92] G. Ramakrishnan et al., “Solidity vulnerability scanner,” in ICDSAAI, vol. 01, 2022, pp. 1–5.
[93] C. Chambefort et al., “Blockchain, tokens, smart contracts, and “decentralized autonomous organization”: Expanding and renewing the mechanisms of governance,” EMR, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 511–515, 2024.
[94] D. Dhillon et al., Smart Contract Vulnerabilities: Exploring the Technical and Economic Aspects. Springer Nature Switzerland, 2024, p. 81.
[95] F. Corradini et al., “Engineering trustable and auditable choreography-based systems using blockchain,” ACM TMIS, vol. 13, no. 3, Feb. 2022.
[96] A. Stocco et al., “Software verification challenges in the blockchain ecosystem,” STTT, 2024.
[97] Z. Deng et al., “Enhancing blockchain cross chain interoperability: A comprehensive survey,” 2025. [Online]. Available: https:
//arxiv.org/abs/2505.04934
[98] W. Wei et al., “Beaiv: Blockchain empowered accountable integrity verification scheme for cross-chain data,” in Web Information Systems and Applications. Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore, 2023, pp. 488–500.
[99] K. Nikolaos et al., “The current state of interoperability between blockchain networks,” European Commission, Technical Report, Nov. 2023.
[100] S. Lazzaro et al., “Achieving accountability and data integrity in message queuing telemetry transport using blockchain and interplanetary file system,” Future Internet, vol. 16, no. 7, 2024.
[101] K. Makhijani et al., “Accountable and distributed industrial control systems with autonomous contracts : OCN-DLT,” in 26th ICIN, 2023.
[102] J. Kalbantner et al., “A dlt-based smart contract architecture for atomic and scalable trading,” arXiv: Cryptography and Security, 2021.
[103] A. Miller et al., “Smart contracts and opportunities for formal methods,” in ISoLA. Springer, 2018, pp. 280–299.
[104] A. Gurjar et al., “Smart contract vulnerabilities and detection methods: A survey,” in 15th ICCCNT, 2024, pp. 1–7.
[105] S. M. Nzuva, “Revisiting blockchain technologies and smart contracts security: A pragmatic exploration of vulnerabilities, threats, and challenges,” Asian J. Res. Comput. Sci., vol. 17, no. 7, p. 11–30, Jun. 2024.
[106] C. Zeng et al., “Smart contract vulnerability detection under digital assets,” in 2024 4th CCSB, 2024, pp. 515–519.
[107] H. Zhu et al., “A survey on security analysis methods of smart contracts,” IEEE TSC, vol. 17, no. 6, pp. 4522–4539, 2024.
[108] U. U. Ibekwe et al., “Navigating the smart contract threat landscape: A systematic review,” IJEECS, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 1209–1224, 2025.
[109] P. Preethi et al., “Smart contracts vulnerabilities detection using ensemble architecture of graphical attention model distillation and inference network,” IAES IJ-AI, vol. 14, no. 1, 2025.
[110] J. Cheng et al., “A vulnerability detection framework with enhanced graph feature learning,” ACM JSSO, vol. 216, p. 112118, 2024.
[111] J. Huang et al., “Smart contract vulnerability detection model based on multi-task learning,” Sensors, vol. 22, no. 5, 2022.
[112] A. Makhijani et al., “An extended access control model for permissioned blockchain frameworks,” Wireless Networks, vol. 25, no. 8, 2019.
[113] D. Marbouh et al., “Blockchain for covid-19: Review, opportunities, and a trusted tracking system,” AJSE, vol. 45, 10 2020.
[114] G. Caldarelli, “Can artificial intelligence solve the blockchain oracle problem? unpacking the challenges and possibilities,” 07 2025.
[115] S. Eskandari et al., “Sok: oracles from the ground truth to market manipulation,” in Proceedings of the 3rd ACM Conference on Advances in Financial Technologies, ser. AFT ’21. Association for Computing Machinery, 2021, p. 127–141.
[116] Karaduman et al., “Blockchain-enabled supply chain management: A review of security, traceability, and data integrity amid the evolving systemic demand,” Applied Sciences, vol. 15, no. 9, 2025.
[117] B. Chen et al., “A comprehensive survey of blockchain scalability: Shaping inner-chain and inter-chain perspectives,” 2024. [Online]. Available: https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.02968
[118] M. Al-Zubaidie and W. Jebbar, “Blockchain-powered dynamic segmentation in personal health record,” Mesopotamian Journal of Cybersecurity, vol. 5, pp. 2958–6542, 09 2025.