What is the correct word to accompany " A survey..."?

As in, do we say "A survey on xyz systems" or "A survey of xyz systems"?

My initial thoughts were to use " A survey on..." because I thought "A survey of..." would refer to survey conducted by XYZ; but I ended up reminding myself that in such a case, it might be "A survey by..."


"A survey on xyz systems" implies that the topic of the survey is xyz systems, but the actual survey subjects (i.e. the people/entities who are surveyed) are not xyz systems.

"A survey of xyz systems" implies that the systems themselves are surveyed, i.e. they are both the topic and subject of the survey.

To express that xyz systems conducted the survey, I'd use "by". I don't think "of" would imply this at all.


Standard usage is A survey of...

link

...though I quite like @Peter Shor's suggestion XYZ Systems: A survey, which to my mind simply oozes precision with no wasted words.