Abstract The purpose of this paper is to gain knowledge about the implementation and development of the Community of Inquiry survey. This paper describes a systematic review of peer-reviewed journal papers where the survey has been used to collect and analyze empirical data about a learning experience. A total of 103 journal papers published between 2008 and 2017 were reviewed to reveal the context, research design, and results obtained using the survey. These results specify that the Community of Inquiry survey provide results that are valid and reliable. The instrument has been used effectively to examine learning experiences and to compare different premises in many contexts. It is, however, necessary to expand the settings in order to make more general claims about the nature of online and blended learning.