{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,23]],"date-time":"2026-03-23T15:56:24Z","timestamp":1774281384461,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":119,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,2]],"date-time":"2025-06-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1748822400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Computers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Fog computing has emerged as a promising paradigm to extend cloud services toward the edge of the network, enabling low-latency processing and real-time responsiveness for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. However, the distributed, heterogeneous, and resource-constrained nature of fog environments introduces significant challenges in balancing workloads efficiently. This study presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of 113 peer-reviewed articles published between 2020 and 2024, aiming to provide a comprehensive overview of load-balancing strategies in fog computing. This review categorizes fog computing architectures, load-balancing algorithms, scheduling and offloading techniques, fault-tolerance mechanisms, security models, and evaluation metrics. The analysis reveals that three-layer (IoT\u2013Fog\u2013Cloud) architectures remain predominant, with dynamic clustering and virtualization commonly employed to enhance adaptability. Heuristic and hybrid load-balancing approaches are most widely adopted due to their scalability and flexibility. Evaluation frequently centers on latency, energy consumption, and resource utilization, while simulation is primarily conducted using tools such as iFogSim and YAFS. Despite considerable progress, key challenges persist, including workload diversity, security enforcement, and real-time decision-making under dynamic conditions. Emerging trends highlight the growing use of artificial intelligence, software-defined networking, and blockchain to support intelligent, secure, and autonomous load balancing. This review synthesizes current research directions, identifies critical gaps, and offers recommendations for designing efficient and resilient fog-based load-balancing systems.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/computers14060217","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,2]],"date-time":"2025-06-02T08:34:13Z","timestamp":1748853253000},"page":"217","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["A Systematic Literature Review on Load-Balancing Techniques in Fog Computing: Architectures, Strategies, and Emerging Trends"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Danah","family":"Aldossary","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Information and Computer Science Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia"},{"name":"Computer Department, Applied College, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammam 31451, Saudi Arabia"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0083-6591","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ezaz","family":"Aldahasi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Information and Computer Science Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia"},{"name":"Computer Science Department, College of Science and Humanities, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 12020, Jubail 31961, Saudi Arabia"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8544-2075","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Taghreed","family":"Balharith","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Information and Computer Science Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia"},{"name":"Computer Science Department, College of Science and Humanities, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 12020, Jubail 31961, Saudi Arabia"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9683-682X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tarek","family":"Helmy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Information and Computer Science Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia"},{"name":"Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Intelligent Secure Systems, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1505","DOI":"10.1109\/TSC.2022.3174475","article-title":"Load balancing algorithms in fog computing","volume":"16","author":"Kashani","year":"2022","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Serv. 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