How to write a good scientific review article

Affiliation.

  • 1 The FEBS Journal Editorial Office, Cambridge, UK.
  • PMID: 35792782
  • DOI: 10.1111/febs.16565

Literature reviews are valuable resources for the scientific community. With research accelerating at an unprecedented speed in recent years and more and more original papers being published, review articles have become increasingly important as a means to keep up to date with developments in a particular area of research. A good review article provides readers with an in-depth understanding of a field and highlights key gaps and challenges to address with future research. Writing a review article also helps to expand the writer's knowledge of their specialist area and to develop their analytical and communication skills, amongst other benefits. Thus, the importance of building review-writing into a scientific career cannot be overstated. In this instalment of The FEBS Journal's Words of Advice series, I provide detailed guidance on planning and writing an informative and engaging literature review.

© 2022 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.

Publication types

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • View all journals
  • Explore content
  • About the journal
  • Publish with us
  • Sign up for alerts
  • CAREER FEATURE
  • 04 December 2020
  • Correction 09 December 2020

How to write a superb literature review

Andy Tay is a freelance writer based in Singapore.

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Literature reviews are important resources for scientists. They provide historical context for a field while offering opinions on its future trajectory. Creating them can provide inspiration for one’s own research, as well as some practice in writing. But few scientists are trained in how to write a review — or in what constitutes an excellent one. Even picking the appropriate software to use can be an involved decision (see ‘Tools and techniques’). So Nature asked editors and working scientists with well-cited reviews for their tips.

Access options

Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals

Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription

24,99 € / 30 days

cancel any time

Subscribe to this journal

Receive 51 print issues and online access

185,98 € per year

only 3,65 € per issue

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-03422-x

Interviews have been edited for length and clarity.

Updates & Corrections

Correction 09 December 2020 : An earlier version of the tables in this article included some incorrect details about the programs Zotero, Endnote and Manubot. These have now been corrected.

Hsing, I.-M., Xu, Y. & Zhao, W. Electroanalysis 19 , 755–768 (2007).

Article   Google Scholar  

Ledesma, H. A. et al. Nature Nanotechnol. 14 , 645–657 (2019).

Article   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Brahlek, M., Koirala, N., Bansal, N. & Oh, S. Solid State Commun. 215–216 , 54–62 (2015).

Choi, Y. & Lee, S. Y. Nature Rev. Chem . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-020-00221-w (2020).

Download references

Related Articles

writing scientific review

  • Research management

Just 5 women have won a top maths prize in the past 90 years

Just 5 women have won a top maths prize in the past 90 years

News 16 FEB 24

A researcher-exchange programme made me a better doctor at home and abroad

A researcher-exchange programme made me a better doctor at home and abroad

Career Q&A 12 FEB 24

I took my case to Nepal’s highest court to improve conservation

I took my case to Nepal’s highest court to improve conservation

China conducts first nationwide review of retractions and research misconduct

China conducts first nationwide review of retractions and research misconduct

News 12 FEB 24

Could roving researchers help address the challenge of taking parental leave?

Could roving researchers help address the challenge of taking parental leave?

Career Feature 07 FEB 24

Best practice for LGBTQ+ data collection by STEM organizations

Correspondence 06 FEB 24

Open-access publishing: citation advantage is unproven

Correspondence 13 FEB 24

How journals are fighting back against a wave of questionable images

How journals are fighting back against a wave of questionable images

Artificial Intelligence and Data Science Faculty Positions in the SOE at the Westlake University

We are dedicated to achieving influential innovations in theories and applications of these research fields.

Yungu, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

Westlake University

writing scientific review

Faculty Positions in School of Engineering, Westlake University

Tenured or tenure-track faculty positions in all ranks. We seek candidates with research interests in multiple areas.

School of Engineering, Westlake University

Global Faculty Recruitment of School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University

The School of Life Sciences at Tsinghua University invites applications for tenure-track or tenured faculty positions at all ranks (Assistant/Ass...

Beijing, China

Tsinghua University (The School of Life Sciences)

writing scientific review

Professor of Biomedical Data Science (Assistant, Associate, and/or Professor Level)

OHSU Knight Cancer Institute CBDS is searching for multiple tenured or tenure-track faculty positions at all ranks in Biomedical Data Science.

Portland, Oregon

Oregon Health and Science University

writing scientific review

Data Scientist (Qualitative)

Houston, Texas (US)

Baylor College of Medicine (BCM)

writing scientific review

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Quick links

  • Explore articles by subject
  • Guide to authors
  • Editorial policies
  • Plasmids Topic Overview
  • Plasmids 101
  • Molecular Biology Protocols and Tips
  • Plasmid Cloning
  • Plasmid Elements
  • Plasmid Tags
  • New Plasmids at Addgene
  • Other Plasmid Tools
  • CRISPR Topic Overview
  • Base Editing
  • Cas Proteins
  • CRISPR Biosafety
  • CRISPR Expression Systems and Delivery Methods
  • CRISPR Pooled Libraries
  • CRISPR Visualize
  • CRISPR gRNAs
  • CRISPR Protocols and Tips
  • CRISPR Therapeutic Applications
  • Other CRISPR Tools
  • Viral Vectors Topic Overview
  • Viral Vectors 101
  • Addgene’s Viral Service
  • Adenoviral Vectors
  • Chemogenetics
  • Cell Tracing
  • Neuroscience Biosensors
  • Optogenetics
  • Retroviral and Lentiviral Vectors
  • Viral Vector Protocols and Tips
  • Fluorescent Proteins Topic Overview
  • Fluorescent Proteins 101
  • Fluorescent Biosensors
  • Fluorescent Imaging
  • Generating Fusions
  • Localization with Fluorescent Proteins
  • Luminescence
  • Non-protein Fluorophores
  • Other Fluorescent Protein Tools
  • Science Career Topic Overview
  • Applying for Jobs
  • Conferences
  • Early Career Researcher
  • Management for Scientists
  • Mentoring for Scientists
  • Professional development
  • Science Career Options
  • Download the Science Career Guide
  • Microbiology
  • Neuroscience
  • Plant Biology
  • Model Organisms
  • Scientific Sharing
  • Scientific Publishing
  • Science Communication
  • Using Addgene's Website
  • Addgene News

How to Write a Scientific Review Article

By Leila Haery

LinkedIn

Choose the topic and outline the organization of the review

Once you start reading, there will be a temptation to include every piece of information that was ever published. Obviously this isn’t possible. So, define your scope from the onset. Perhaps you, a colleague, or your adviser was invited to write on a particular topic. Alternatively, maybe you’re researching a topic for which no relevant or recent review exists. Once you pick a topic, try to be specific about exactly what aspect of the field you plan to review. If it’s a well-researched field, you may need to get specific to make sure your article doesn’t turn into a textbook.

Get the journal’s submission rules for review articles

Whether submitting a review by invitation or by your own accord,  once you have these rules (word limit, formatting guidelines, etc.) you have some criteria to shape the document.

Get and use a reference management program (e.g., EndNote , Papers , Mendeley , etc.)

You’re going to be managing a lot of references. I cite as I write, meaning I use the software to add the citations in real time as I write. Things are going to get a little crazy (meaning you are probably going to cite hundreds of references) and it’s better to keep your references organized from the beginning. I also recommend using the citation style of (Last name, Year) in the document while writing, because it helps you later on to remember where you read particular studies or experiments. Later, you can easily convert the citation style to whatever the journal requires. Using the (Last name, Year) format also has the benefit of exposing you to relevant researchers in the field. Finally, you can sound credible and cool when you casually mention “Haery et al., showed that MYC expression was increased…” when discussing the review topic with your peers.

Start reading!

I started by reading other reviews because, as I mentioned, I wasn’t an expert in the field. To find reviews, I just searched online and found ones that I thought “looked good” by no definitive criteria. I read these articles to get a sense of the themes in the field and to learn what people cared about. I also used reviews to get a list of research papers that I needed to read. Once I had an idea of the themes in the field, I searched for recent research papers on these particular themes, for seminal papers on these themes, and also for articles from the active/well-known researchers in the field. I made sure to find information from genome-wide studies, as well as results from smaller and more specific studies. I also did not limit myself to the well-cited or popular papers, but looked for papers from a wide range of authors.

Just start writing

When I first started I thought I would read a bunch of papers and then feel ready to write. What actually happened was that each paper taught me a few things and also highlighted a few dozen things that I didn’t know about. Instead of reading a paper and getting my bearings, I would read a paper, panic, and then download a bunch of other papers. In mathematics, I think this is represented by factorials. In environmental science and ecology, this can be represented by the tip of the iceberg. For writers, this is probably “a normal day.” The way I broke this cycle was to just start writing.

exclamation.jpg__65x63_q85_subsampling-2_upscale.png

No really, just start writing!

Don’t worry about grammar or formatting or continuity. Also don’t worry if you feel like you don’t still know enough about the topic. Just get as many words down on the page as possible. This could be in the form of lists, streams of consciousness, or anything else. Like I mentioned, I also added citations in real time as I wrote, so each statement was referenced even in the roughest version of the draft and I didn’t have to worry about having to hunt down sources later on. 

A comment about citing: I wasn’t sure if I should cite reviews or the primary literature or both. I ended up citing both because I used both.

Curate and present some useful data

Typically lists and pictures are the most useful parts of reviews. These could be in the form of figures/schematics or tables. And don’t forget to include citations so that people can go back and read the original reference for the data. For example, we summarized how frequently each member of a class of proteins was mutated, as reported in various studies. We made a table that listed each protein in the class, then for each protein we listed all the studies that reported mutations in that protein (including how frequently a mutation was found and the size of the study). This was useful because you could easily see how frequently each protein was mutated, you could see how big the studies were, and you could find the original paper if you wanted to learn more. Another example: we made a schematic of all the proteins in the class that showed the relative sizes and the conserved domains. This information was available in GenBank, but it was useful to present it all in one place to get a sense of the similarities and differences among proteins in the class.

Curated Table Large.png

Offer your perspective

It doesn’t have to be long and it doesn’t have to be revolutionary, but you could include a few comments on where you think the field is going or what areas are worth exploring. 

Edit and rewrite, then repeat

If you’re like me, your rough draft is really rough and so editing is going to be a long process. I was lucky in that my adviser always played an active role in writing and editing, so I always had someone to send drafts back and forth with. That being said, we probably exchanged dozens of drafts of the manuscript. This is the time to transform the document into something cohesive-- change the sentences, make it flow, and start telling the story. Like any editing process, you will need time away from the article to be able to keep editing it effectively. You will also begin to hate the article. This is normal and it means you’re on the right track! 

Get feedback

After you’re done editing, send it to some actual experts in the field for their feedback on the scope and the content.

Submit your article!

Overall, writing a review can be overwhelming and challenging. My best advice is don’t overthink it. And to quote my adviser, "you just gotta do it." At the end of the day, someone has to write the article and that someone is going to be you. So, just do it! I will also paraphrase what I have heard many other creative people say about writing: you don’t know what it’s going to look like when it’s done, but you know what it looks like when it's not done. So, as long as it doesn't look done, just keep working on it. Also bear in mind that this is just a review article and not your life’s work: so remember that done is better than perfect. Good luck!

1. Haery, Leila, Ryan C. Thompson, and Thomas D. Gilmore. "Histone acetyltransferases and histone deacetylases in B-and T-cell development, physiology and malignancy." Genes & cancer 6.5-6 (2015): 184. PubMed PMID: 26124919 . PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4482241 .

Additional Resources on the Addgene Blog

  • Writing Scientific Manuscripts: Literature Searching, Reading, & Organizing
  • Tips for Improving Your Next Manuscript
  • 6 Tips for Grant Writing

Resources on Addgene.org

  • Check out Our Hot Plasmids Articles to See Compiled Info on New Plasmids
  • Review the CRISPR Field with Our CRISPR Guide Pages

Topics: Scientific Sharing , Scientific Publishing

Leave a Comment

Add Comment

Sharing science just got easier... Subscribe to our blog

Subscribe

Follow Addgene on Social

linkedin

Addgene is a nonprofit plasmid repository.

We store and distribute high-quality plasmids from your colleagues.

  • Cookies & Privacy Policy
  • Accessibility
  • Terms of Use
  • Search Menu
  • Advance Articles
  • Editor's Choice
  • CME Reviews
  • Best of 2021 collection
  • Abbreviated Breast MRI Virtual Collection
  • Contrast-enhanced Mammography Collection
  • Author Guidelines
  • Submission Site
  • Open Access
  • Self-Archiving Policy
  • Accepted Papers Resource Guide
  • About Journal of Breast Imaging
  • About the Society of Breast Imaging
  • Guidelines for Reviewers
  • Resources for Reviewers and Authors
  • Editorial Board
  • Advertising Disclaimer
  • Advertising and Corporate Services
  • Journals on Oxford Academic
  • Books on Oxford Academic

Society of Breast Imaging

  • < Previous

A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Scientific Review Article

  • Article contents
  • Figures & tables
  • Supplementary Data

Manisha Bahl, A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Scientific Review Article, Journal of Breast Imaging , Volume 5, Issue 4, July/August 2023, Pages 480–485, https://doi.org/10.1093/jbi/wbad028

  • Permissions Icon Permissions

Scientific review articles are comprehensive, focused reviews of the scientific literature written by subject matter experts. The task of writing a scientific review article can seem overwhelming; however, it can be managed by using an organized approach and devoting sufficient time to the process. The process involves selecting a topic about which the authors are knowledgeable and enthusiastic, conducting a literature search and critical analysis of the literature, and writing the article, which is composed of an abstract, introduction, body, and conclusion, with accompanying tables and figures. This article, which focuses on the narrative or traditional literature review, is intended to serve as a guide with practical steps for new writers. Tips for success are also discussed, including selecting a focused topic, maintaining objectivity and balance while writing, avoiding tedious data presentation in a laundry list format, moving from descriptions of the literature to critical analysis, avoiding simplistic conclusions, and budgeting time for the overall process.

  • narrative discourse

Email alerts

Citing articles via.

  • Recommend to your Librarian
  • Journals Career Network

Affiliations

  • Online ISSN 2631-6129
  • Print ISSN 2631-6110
  • Copyright © 2024 Society of Breast Imaging
  • About Oxford Academic
  • Publish journals with us
  • University press partners
  • What we publish
  • New features  
  • Open access
  • Institutional account management
  • Rights and permissions
  • Get help with access
  • Accessibility
  • Advertising
  • Media enquiries
  • Oxford University Press
  • Oxford Languages
  • University of Oxford

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide

  • Copyright © 2024 Oxford University Press
  • Cookie settings
  • Cookie policy
  • Privacy policy
  • Legal notice

This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

ASCB

Photo by John Fleischman

Toward the end of my graduate school training I had an opportunity to write a scientific review article. It was quite a learning experience and one that was well timed. I was close to completing my PhD, and the chance to assimilate all the literature in the field and interpret findings of recent scientific articles in an informative scientific review was exciting. I had six months to complete this arduous task, and here are some things I learned along the way:

  • Give yourself plenty of time to write a scientific review. Compiling years of scientific progress into a short review article is not easy and it requires good understanding of the literature and implications of the discoveries made thus far. Most importantly, stay on time and submit your review article by the deadline. Start early, spend time reading literature extensively, and pen your thoughts as you go along.
  • Make an outline and decide on the main topic for the review. It is easy to digress and include all the information in the field; however, this would not be useful to readers.
  • Be aware of journal requirements. Decide where you are going to publish your review and be sure to read journal requirements for submission of the review. It is good to strictly adhere to journal requirements such as number of papers cited or word/page limits.
  • Be well versed with the literature. It is important to know about the initial studies and also know of the latest discoveries (i.e., be scholarly). A good review summarizes relevant discoveries, discusses implications, and speculates on the future of the field.
  • Make notes while reading the literature . It is impossible to remember every article that you read along with your thoughts or interpretations. Try making notes while reading. It will help give a structure to your review article.
  • Analyze published scientific literature. As a scientist it is imperative to assimilate data and understand its implications or caveats. A scientific review article is a good place to discuss these issues and point out how caveats can be addressed in the future.
  • Discuss significant findings. This allows the author(s) to elaborate on whether certain pathways/observations are conserved across species. Also discuss differences and speculate on how the different regulation in other species may be advantageous. Such evolutionary conservation is not only biologically significant but can also help readers understand how a process is regulated.
  • Utilize graphics. Include charts or figures to depict key points of the review. A useful tool employed in many reviews is a timeline that details significant discoveries that have contributed to better understanding of the field.
  • Request Feedback. Your lab mates, mentor, or colleagues in your university will be happy to read drafts and provide feedback. They may help with different perspectives or can also help you interpret certain studies in new ways you hadn’t thought of. Discussing your review with peers will definitely improve it and help prevent inaccuracies.
  • Discuss the future of the field. Get your lab mate’s and mentor’s views on the future to determine if there is a consensus on where they think the field is headed. Speculate on how the future will improve our understanding of the field.

Most importantly take the time to write a scientific review! It helped me develop as a scientist. I understood the process of writing a scientific review, learned to be accurate yet consistent with scientific facts/discoveries, and got more experience critiquing scientific literature. I encourage everyone to take a short break from experiments to speculate on all the science and write a scientific review. This exercise can help your project too! Good luck writing!

About the Author:

Recommended articles.

writing scientific review

Enago Academy

How to Write a Good Scientific Literature Review

' src=

Nowadays, there is a huge demand for scientific literature reviews as they are especially appreciated by scholars or researchers when designing their research proposals. While finding information is less of a problem to them, discerning which paper or publication has enough quality has become one of the biggest issues. Literature reviews narrow the current knowledge on a certain field and examine the latest publications’ strengths and weaknesses. This way, they are priceless tools not only for those who are starting their research, but also for all those interested in recent publications. To be useful, literature reviews must be written in a professional way with a clear structure. The amount of work needed to write a scientific literature review must be considered before starting one since the tasks required can overwhelm many if the working method is not the best.

Designing and Writing a Scientific Literature Review

Writing a scientific review implies both researching for relevant academic content and writing , however, writing without having a clear objective is a common mistake. Sometimes, studying the situation and defining the work’s system is so important and takes equally as much time as that required in writing the final result. Therefore, we suggest that you divide your path into three steps.

Define goals and a structure

Think about your target and narrow down your topic. If you don’t choose a well-defined topic, you can find yourself dealing with a wide subject and plenty of publications about it. Remember that researchers usually deal with really specific fields of study.

It is time to be a critic and locate only pertinent publications. While researching for content consider publications that were written 3 years ago at the most. Write notes and summarize the content of each paper as that will help you in the next step.

Time to write

Check some literature review examples to decide how to start writing a good literature review . When your goals and structure are defined, begin writing without forgetting your target at any moment.

Related: Conducting a literature survey? Wish to learn more about scientific misconduct? Check out this resourceful infographic.

Here you have a to-do list to help you write your review :

Review Article

  • A scientific literature review usually includes a title, abstract, index, introduction, corpus, bibliography, and appendices (if needed).
  • Present the problem clearly.
  • Mention the paper’s methodology, research methods, analysis, instruments, etc.
  • Present literature review examples that can help you express your ideas.
  • Remember to cite accurately.
  • Limit your bias
  • While summarizing also identify strengths and weaknesses as this is critical.

Scholars and researchers are usually the best candidates to write scientific literature reviews, not only because they are experts in a certain field, but also because they know the exigencies and needs that researchers have while writing research proposals or looking for information among thousands of academic papers. Therefore, considering your experience as a researcher can help you understand how to write a scientific literature review.

Have you faced challenges while drafting your first literature review? How do you think can these tips help you in acing your next literature review? Let us know in the comments section below! You can also visit our  Q&A forum  for frequently asked questions related to copyrights answered by our team that comprises eminent researchers and publication experts.

writing scientific review

Thank you for your information. It adds knowledge on critical review being a first time to do it, it helps a lot.

yes. i would like to ndertake the course Bio ststistics

Rate this article Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published.

writing scientific review

Enago Academy's Most Popular

Best AI-Based Literature Review Tools

  • Reporting Research

AI Assistance in Academia for Searching Credible Scholarly Sources

The journey of academia is a grand quest for knowledge, more specifically an adventure to…

Writing a Literature Review

  • Manuscripts & Grants

Writing a Research Literature Review? — Here are tips to guide you through!

Literature review is both a process and a product. It involves searching within a defined…

article summarizer

  • AI in Academia

How to Scan Through Millions of Articles and Still Cut Down on Your Reading Time — Why not do it with an AI-based article summarizer?

Researcher 1: “It’s flooding articles every time I switch on my laptop!” Researcher 2: “Why…

literature mapping

How to Master at Literature Mapping: 5 Most Recommended Tools to Use

This article is also available in: Turkish, Spanish, Russian, and Portuguese

writing scientific review

  • Old Webinars
  • Webinar Mobile App

Improving Your Chances of Publication in International Peer-reviewed Journals

Types of literature reviews Tips for writing review articles Role of meta-analysis Reporting guidelines

How to Scan Through Millions of Articles and Still Cut Down on Your Reading Time —…

writing scientific review

Sign-up to read more

Subscribe for free to get unrestricted access to all our resources on research writing and academic publishing including:

  • 2000+ blog articles
  • 50+ Webinars
  • 10+ Expert podcasts
  • 50+ Infographics
  • 10+ Checklists
  • Research Guides

We hate spam too. We promise to protect your privacy and never spam you.

I am looking for Editing/ Proofreading services for my manuscript Tentative date of next journal submission:

writing scientific review

According to you, how can AI writing tools improve academic writing accuracy?

Logo for University of Southern Queensland

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

7 Writing a Literature Review

Hundreds of original investigation research articles on health science topics are published each year. It is becoming harder and harder to keep on top of all new findings in a topic area and – more importantly – to work out how they all fit together to determine our current understanding of a topic. This is where literature reviews come in.

In this chapter, we explain what a literature review is and outline the stages involved in writing one. We also provide practical tips on how to communicate the results of a review of current literature on a topic in the format of a literature review.

7.1 What is a literature review?

Screenshot of journal article

Literature reviews provide a synthesis and evaluation  of the existing literature on a particular topic with the aim of gaining a new, deeper understanding of the topic.

Published literature reviews are typically written by scientists who are experts in that particular area of science. Usually, they will be widely published as authors of their own original work, making them highly qualified to author a literature review.

However, literature reviews are still subject to peer review before being published. Literature reviews provide an important bridge between the expert scientific community and many other communities, such as science journalists, teachers, and medical and allied health professionals. When the most up-to-date knowledge reaches such audiences, it is more likely that this information will find its way to the general public. When this happens, – the ultimate good of science can be realised.

A literature review is structured differently from an original research article. It is developed based on themes, rather than stages of the scientific method.

In the article Ten simple rules for writing a literature review , Marco Pautasso explains the importance of literature reviews:

Literature reviews are in great demand in most scientific fields. Their need stems from the ever-increasing output of scientific publications. For example, compared to 1991, in 2008 three, eight, and forty times more papers were indexed in Web of Science on malaria, obesity, and biodiversity, respectively. Given such mountains of papers, scientists cannot be expected to examine in detail every single new paper relevant to their interests. Thus, it is both advantageous and necessary to rely on regular summaries of the recent literature. Although recognition for scientists mainly comes from primary research, timely literature reviews can lead to new synthetic insights and are often widely read. For such summaries to be useful, however, they need to be compiled in a professional way (Pautasso, 2013, para. 1).

An example of a literature review is shown in Figure 7.1.

Video 7.1: What is a literature review? [2 mins, 11 secs]

Watch this video created by Steely Library at Northern Kentucky Library called ‘ What is a literature review? Note: Closed captions are available by clicking on the CC button below.

Examples of published literature reviews

  • Strength training alone, exercise therapy alone, and exercise therapy with passive manual mobilisation each reduce pain and disability in people with knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review
  • Traveler’s diarrhea: a clinical review
  • Cultural concepts of distress and psychiatric disorders: literature review and research recommendations for global mental health epidemiology

7.2 Steps of writing a literature review

Writing a literature review is a very challenging task. Figure 7.2 summarises the steps of writing a literature review. Depending on why you are writing your literature review, you may be given a topic area, or may choose a topic that particularly interests you or is related to a research project that you wish to undertake.

Chapter 6 provides instructions on finding scientific literature that would form the basis for your literature review.

Once you have your topic and have accessed the literature, the next stages (analysis, synthesis and evaluation) are challenging. Next, we look at these important cognitive skills student scientists will need to develop and employ to successfully write a literature review, and provide some guidance for navigating these stages.

Steps of writing a ltierature review which include: research, synthesise, read abstracts, read papers, evaualte findings and write

Analysis, synthesis and evaluation

Analysis, synthesis and evaluation are three essential skills required by scientists  and you will need to develop these skills if you are to write a good literature review ( Figure 7.3 ). These important cognitive skills are discussed in more detail in Chapter 9.

Diagram with the words analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Under analysis it says taking a process or thing and breaking it down. Under synthesis it says combining elements of separate material and under evaluation it says critiquing a product or process

The first step in writing a literature review is to analyse the original investigation research papers that you have gathered related to your topic.

Analysis requires examining the papers methodically and in detail, so you can understand and interpret aspects of the study described in each research article.

An analysis grid is a simple tool you can use to help with the careful examination and breakdown of each paper. This tool will allow you to create a concise summary of each research paper; see Table 7.1 for an example of  an analysis grid. When filling in the grid, the aim is to draw out key aspects of each research paper. Use a different row for each paper, and a different column for each aspect of the paper ( Tables 7.2 and 7.3 show how completed analysis grid may look).

Before completing your own grid, look at these examples and note the types of information that have been included, as well as the level of detail. Completing an analysis grid with a sufficient level of detail will help you to complete the synthesis and evaluation stages effectively. This grid will allow you to more easily observe similarities and differences across the findings of the research papers and to identify possible explanations (e.g., differences in methodologies employed) for observed differences between the findings of different research papers.

Table 7.1: Example of an analysis grid

A tab;e split into columns with annotated comments

Table 7.3: Sample filled-in analysis grid for research article by Ping and colleagues

Source: Ping, WC, Keong, CC & Bandyopadhyay, A 2010, ‘Effects of acute supplementation of caffeine on cardiorespiratory responses during endurance running in a hot and humid climate’, Indian Journal of Medical Research, vol. 132, pp. 36–41. Used under a CC-BY-NC-SA licence.

Step two of writing a literature review is synthesis.

Synthesis describes combining separate components or elements to form a connected whole.

You will use the results of your analysis to find themes to build your literature review around. Each of the themes identified will become a subheading within the body of your literature review.

A good place to start when identifying themes is with the dependent variables (results/findings) that were investigated in the research studies.

Because all of the research articles you are incorporating into your literature review are related to your topic, it is likely that they have similar study designs and have measured similar dependent variables. Review the ‘Results’ column of your analysis grid. You may like to collate the common themes in a synthesis grid (see, for example Table 7.4 ).

Table showing themes of the article including running performance, rating of perceived exertion, heart rate and oxygen uptake

Step three of writing a literature review is evaluation, which can only be done after carefully analysing your research papers and synthesising the common themes (findings).

During the evaluation stage, you are making judgements on the themes presented in the research articles that you have read. This includes providing physiological explanations for the findings. It may be useful to refer to the discussion section of published original investigation research papers, or another literature review, where the authors may mention tested or hypothetical physiological mechanisms that may explain their findings.

When the findings of the investigations related to a particular theme are inconsistent (e.g., one study shows that caffeine effects performance and another study shows that caffeine had no effect on performance) you should attempt to provide explanations of why the results differ, including physiological explanations. A good place to start is by comparing the methodologies to determine if there are any differences that may explain the differences in the findings (see the ‘Experimental design’ column of your analysis grid). An example of evaluation is shown in the examples that follow in this section, under ‘Running performance’ and ‘RPE ratings’.

When the findings of the papers related to a particular theme are consistent (e.g., caffeine had no effect on oxygen uptake in both studies) an evaluation should include an explanation of why the results are similar. Once again, include physiological explanations. It is still a good idea to compare methodologies as a background to the evaluation. An example of evaluation is shown in the following under ‘Oxygen consumption’.

Annotated paragraphs on running performance with annotated notes such as physiological explanation provided; possible explanation for inconsistent results

7.3 Writing your literature review

Once you have completed the analysis, and synthesis grids and written your evaluation of the research papers , you can combine synthesis and evaluation information to create a paragraph for a literature review ( Figure 7.4 ).

Bubble daigram showing connection between synethesis, evaulation and writing a paragraph

The following paragraphs are an example of combining the outcome of the synthesis and evaluation stages to produce a paragraph for a literature review.

Note that this is an example using only two papers – most literature reviews would be presenting information on many more papers than this ( (e.g., 106 papers in the review article by Bain and colleagues discussed later in this chapter). However, the same principle applies regardless of the number of papers reviewed.

Introduction paragraph showing where evaluation occurs

The next part of this chapter looks at the each section of a literature review and explains how to write them by referring to a review article that was published in Frontiers in Physiology and shown in Figure 7.1. Each section from the published article is annotated to highlight important features of the format of the review article, and identifies the synthesis and evaluation information.

In the examination of each review article section we will point out examples of how the authors have presented certain information and where they display application of important cognitive processes; we will use the colour code shown below:

Colour legend

This should be one paragraph that accurately reflects the contents of the review article.

An annotated abstract divided into relevant background information, identification of the problem, summary of recent literature on topic, purpose of the review

Introduction

The introduction should establish the context and importance of the review

An annotated introduction divided into relevant background information, identification of the issue and overview of points covered

Body of literature review

Annotated body of literature review with following comments annotated on the side: subheadings are included to separate body of review into themes; introductory sentences with general background information; identification of gap in current knowledge; relevant theoretical background information; syntheis of literature relating to the potential importance of cerebral metabolism; an evaluation; identification of gaps in knowledge; synthesis of findings related to human studies; author evaluation

The reference section provides a list of the references that you cited in the body of your review article. The format will depend on the journal of publication as each journal has their own specific referencing format.

It is important to accurately cite references in research papers to acknowledge your sources and ensure credit is appropriately given to authors of work you have referred to. An accurate and comprehensive reference list also shows your readers that you are well-read in your topic area and are aware of the key papers that provide the context to your research.

It is important to keep track of your resources and to reference them consistently in the format required by the publication in which your work will appear. Most scientists will use reference management software to store details of all of the journal articles (and other sources) they use while writing their review article. This software also automates the process of adding in-text references and creating a reference list. In the review article by Bain et al. (2014) used as an example in this chapter, the reference list contains 106 items, so you can imagine how much help referencing software would be. Chapter 5 shows you how to use EndNote, one example of reference management software.

Click the drop down below to review the terms learned from this chapter.

Copyright note:

  • The quotation from Pautasso, M 2013, ‘Ten simple rules for writing a literature review’, PLoS Computational Biology is use under a CC-BY licence. 
  • Content from the annotated article and tables are based on Schubert, MM, Astorino, TA & Azevedo, JJL 2013, ‘The effects of caffeinated ‘energy shots’ on time trial performance’, Nutrients, vol. 5, no. 6, pp. 2062–2075 (used under a CC-BY 3.0 licence ) and P ing, WC, Keong , CC & Bandyopadhyay, A 2010, ‘Effects of acute supplementation of caffeine on cardiorespiratory responses during endurance running in a hot and humid climate’, Indian Journal of Medical Research, vol. 132, pp. 36–41 (used under a CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence ). 

Bain, A.R., Morrison, S.A., & Ainslie, P.N. (2014). Cerebral oxygenation and hyperthermia. Frontiers in Physiology, 5 , 92.

Pautasso, M. (2013). Ten simple rules for writing a literature review. PLoS Computational Biology, 9 (7), e1003149.

How To Do Science Copyright © 2022 by University of Southern Queensland is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book

Duke University Libraries

Literature Reviews

  • Getting started

What is a literature review?

Why conduct a literature review, stages of a literature review, lit reviews: an overview (video), check out these books.

  • Types of reviews
  • 1. Define your research question
  • 2. Plan your search
  • 3. Search the literature
  • 4. Organize your results
  • 5. Synthesize your findings
  • 6. Write the review
  • Thompson Writing Studio This link opens in a new window
  • Need to write a systematic review? This link opens in a new window

writing scientific review

Contact a Librarian

Ask a Librarian

writing scientific review

Definition: A literature review is a systematic examination and synthesis of existing scholarly research on a specific topic or subject.

Purpose: It serves to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge within a particular field.

Analysis: Involves critically evaluating and summarizing key findings, methodologies, and debates found in academic literature.

Identifying Gaps: Aims to pinpoint areas where there is a lack of research or unresolved questions, highlighting opportunities for further investigation.

Contextualization: Enables researchers to understand how their work fits into the broader academic conversation and contributes to the existing body of knowledge.

writing scientific review

tl;dr  A literature review critically examines and synthesizes existing scholarly research and publications on a specific topic to provide a comprehensive understanding of the current state of knowledge in the field.

What is a literature review NOT?

❌ An annotated bibliography

❌ Original research

❌ A summary

❌ Something to be conducted at the end of your research

❌ An opinion piece

❌ A chronological compilation of studies

The reason for conducting a literature review is to:

writing scientific review

Literature Reviews: An Overview for Graduate Students

While this 9-minute video from NCSU is geared toward graduate students, it is useful for anyone conducting a literature review.

writing scientific review

Writing the literature review: A practical guide

Available 3rd floor of Perkins

writing scientific review

Writing literature reviews: A guide for students of the social and behavioral sciences

Available online!

writing scientific review

So, you have to write a literature review: A guided workbook for engineers

writing scientific review

Telling a research story: Writing a literature review

writing scientific review

The literature review: Six steps to success

writing scientific review

Systematic approaches to a successful literature review

Request from Duke Medical Center Library

writing scientific review

Doing a systematic review: A student's guide

  • Next: Types of reviews >>
  • Last Updated: Feb 15, 2024 1:45 PM
  • URL: https://guides.library.duke.edu/lit-reviews

Duke University Libraries

Services for...

  • Faculty & Instructors
  • Graduate Students
  • Undergraduate Students
  • International Students
  • Patrons with Disabilities

Twitter

  • Harmful Language Statement
  • Re-use & Attribution / Privacy
  • Support the Libraries

Creative Commons License

Physical Review Letters

  • Collections
  • Editorial Team
  • Featured in Physics
  • Editors' Suggestion
  • Open Access

Achievement of Target Gain Larger than Unity in an Inertial Fusion Experiment

H. abu-shawareb et al. (the indirect drive icf collaboration), phys. rev. lett. 132 , 065102 – published 5 february 2024, see viewpoint: nuclear-fusion reaction beats breakeven.

  • No Citing Articles
  • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

On December 5, 2022, an indirect drive fusion implosion on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) achieved a target gain G target of 1.5. This is the first laboratory demonstration of exceeding “scientific breakeven” (or G target > 1 ) where 2.05 MJ of 351 nm laser light produced 3.1 MJ of total fusion yield, a result which significantly exceeds the Lawson criterion for fusion ignition as reported in a previous NIF implosion [H. Abu-Shawareb et al. (Indirect Drive ICF Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 129 , 075001 (2022) ]. This achievement is the culmination of more than five decades of research and gives proof that laboratory fusion, based on fundamental physics principles, is possible. This Letter reports on the target, laser, design, and experimental advancements that led to this result.

Figure

  • Received 27 October 2023
  • Accepted 3 January 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.065102

writing scientific review

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

  • Research Areas

Key Image

Nuclear-Fusion Reaction Beats Breakeven

Published 5 february 2024.

Scientists have now vetted details of the 2022 laser-powered fusion reaction that produced more energy than it consumed.

See more in Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Energy principles of scientific breakeven in an inertial fusion experiment, o. a. hurricane, d. a. callahan, d. t. casey, a. r. christopherson, a. l. kritcher, o. l. landen, s. a. maclaren, r. nora, p. k. patel, j. ralph, d. schlossberg, p. t. springer, c. v. young, and a. b. zylstra, phys. rev. lett. 132 , 065103 (2024), hohlraum reheating from burning nif implosions, m. s. rubery, m. d. rosen, n. aybar, o. l. landen, l. divol, c. v. young, c. weber, j. hammer, j. d. moody, a. s. moore, a. l. kritcher, a. b. zylstra, o. hurricane, a. e. pak, s. maclaren, g. zimmerman, j. harte, and t. woods, phys. rev. lett. 132 , 065104 (2024), observations and properties of the first laboratory fusion experiment to exceed a target gain of unity, a. pak et al., phys. rev. e 109 , 025203 (2024), design of the first fusion experiment to achieve target energy gain g > 1, a. l. kritcher et al., phys. rev. e 109 , 025204 (2024), article text.

Vol. 132, Iss. 6 — 9 February 2024

writing scientific review

Authorization Required

Other options.

  • Buy Article »
  • Find an Institution with the Article »

Download & Share

Left: schematic of the target and laser configuration including the hohlraum. Bottom right: the HDC capsule and DT fuel configuration. Top right: total laser power vs time and radiation temperature T r as a function of time. The HDC capsule thickness was increased by ∼ 7 % and the laser energy was increased by ∼ 7.9 % for N221204 (red line) compared to N210808 (black line).

Target gain vs calendar date. The horizontal labels mark the beginning of each year. The color of the narrow target gain bars represents different implosion designs, and the dashed horizontal line represents the target gain = 1     per the NAS ignition criteria [ 26 ].

3D reconstruction of the time-integrated emission-weighted neutron emissivity from two neutron images taken on each shot from orthogonal lines of sight (image projections), for NIF shots (a) N210307, (b) N210808, and (c) N221204. The left color bar corresponds to the 3D represented volume; the right color bar is for the 2D projections of this volume.

NIF DT shot data are plotted in the space of inferred hot spot Lawson parameter which corresponds to hot spot peak pressure times burn duration, p τ , and DD ion temperature, which is the temperature T determined by the neutron-time-of-flight spread of 2.5 MeV neutrons that come from deuterium-deuterium fusion. The curves denote the ignition boundary per the GLC equation described in the text assuming no mix (solid) and with a multiplier of 1.5 and 2 × on the radiative loss to account for increased levels of higher atomic number mix (dashed curves). Experiments N210808 and N221204 exhibit little mixing, Z 2 ¯ ∼ 1.03 ± 0.02 , while other experiments can exhibit higher values depending upon capsule quality, fill-tube size, and hydrodynamic instability control. Data from the Hybrid-E series are highlighted as red points, while earlier campaigns are shown in other colors.

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review Letters

Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

  • Forgot your username/password?
  • Create an account

Article Lookup

Paste a citation or doi, enter a citation.

  • International edition
  • Australia edition
  • Europe edition

Sample of DNA being pipetted into a petri dish over genetic results

‘The situation has become appalling’: fake scientific papers push research credibility to crisis point

Last year, 10,000 sham papers had to be retracted by academic journals, but experts think this is just the tip of the iceberg

Tens of thousands of bogus research papers are being published in journals in an international scandal that is worsening every year, scientists have warned. Medical research is being compromised, drug development hindered and promising academic research jeopardised thanks to a global wave of sham science that is sweeping laboratories and universities.

Last year the annual number of papers retracted by research journals topped 10,000 for the first time. Most analysts believe the figure is only the tip of an iceberg of scientific fraud .

“The situation has become appalling,” said Professor Dorothy Bishop of Oxford University. “The level of publishing of fraudulent papers is creating serious problems for science. In many fields it is becoming difficult to build up a cumulative approach to a subject, because we lack a solid foundation of trustworthy findings. And it’s getting worse and worse.”

The startling rise in the publication of sham science papers has its roots in China, where young doctors and scientists seeking promotion were required to have published scientific papers. Shadow organisations – known as “paper mills” – began to supply fabricated work for publication in journals there.

The practice has since spread to India, Iran, Russia, former Soviet Union states and eastern Europe, with paper mills supplying ­fabricated studies to more and more journals as increasing numbers of young ­scientists try to boost their careers by claiming false research experience. In some cases, journal editors have been bribed to accept articles, while paper mills have managed to establish their own agents as guest editors who then allow reams of ­falsified work to be published.

Dr Dorothy Bishop sitting in a garden

“Editors are not fulfilling their roles properly, and peer reviewers are not doing their jobs. And some are being paid large sums of money,” said Professor Alison Avenell of Aberdeen University. “It is deeply worrying.”

The products of paper mills often look like regular articles but are based on templates in which names of genes or diseases are slotted in at random among fictitious tables and figures. Worryingly, these articles can then get incorporated into large databases used by those working on drug discovery.

Others are more bizarre and include research unrelated to a journal’s field, making it clear that no peer review has taken place in relation to that article. An example is a paper on Marxist ideology that appeared in the journal Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine . Others are distinctive because of the strange language they use, including references to “bosom peril” rather than breast cancer and “Parkinson’s ailment” rather Parkinson’s disease.

Watchdog groups – such as Retraction Watch – have tracked the problem and have noted retractions by journals that were forced to act on occasions when fabrications were uncovered. One study, by Nature , revealed that in 2013 there were just over 1,000 retractions. In 2022, the figure topped 4,000 before jumping to more than 10,000 last year.

Of this last total, more than 8,000 retracted papers had been published in journals owned by Hindawi, a subsidiary of the publisher Wiley, figures that have now forced the company to act. “We will be sunsetting the Hindawi brand and have begun to fully integrate the 200-plus Hindawi journals into Wiley’s ­portfolio,” a Wiley spokesperson told the Observer .

The spokesperson added that Wiley had now identified hundreds of fraudsters present in its portfolio of journals, as well as those who had held guest editorial roles. “We have removed them from our systems and will continue to take a proactive … approach in our efforts to clean up the scholarly record, strengthen our integrity processes and contribute to cross-industry solutions.”

But Wiley insisted it could not tackle the crisis on its own, a message echoed by other publishers, which say they are under siege from paper mills. Academics remain cautious, however. The problem is that in many countries, academics are paid according to the number of papers they have published.

“If you have growing numbers of researchers who are being strongly incentivised to publish just for the sake of publishing, while we have a growing number of journals making money from publishing the resulting articles, you have a perfect storm,” said Professor Marcus Munafo of Bristol University. “That is exactly what we have now.”

The harm done by publishing poor or fabricated research is demonstrated by the anti-parasite drug ivermectin. Early laboratory studies indicated it could be used to treat Covid-19 and it was hailed as a miracle drug. However, it was later found these studies showed clear evidence of fraud, and medical authorities have refused to back it as a treatment for Covid.

“The trouble was, ivermectin was used by anti-vaxxers to say: ‘We don’t need vaccination because we have this wonder drug,’” said Jack Wilkinson at Manchester University. “But many of the trials that underpinned those claims were not authentic.”

Wilkinson added that he and his colleagues were trying to develop protocols that researchers could apply to reveal the authenticity of studies that they might include in their own work. “Some great science came out during the pandemic, but there was an ocean of rubbish research too. We need ways to pinpoint poor data right from the start.”

The danger posed by the rise of the paper mill and fraudulent research papers was also stressed by Professor Malcolm MacLeod of Edinburgh University. “If, as a scientist, I want to check all the papers about a particular drug that might target cancers or stroke cases, it is very hard for me to avoid those that are fabricated. Scientific knowledge is being polluted by made-up material. We are facing a crisis.”

This point was backed by Bishop: “People are building careers on the back of this tidal wave of fraudulent science and could end up running scientific institutes and eventually be used by mainstream journals as reviewers and editors. Corruption is creeping into the system.”

  • Peer review and scientific publishing
  • The Observer
  • Higher education
  • Universities
  • Newspapers & magazines
  • Medical research

Most viewed

Futurism

Scientific Article With Insane AI-Generated Images Somehow Passes Peer Review

T he questionable use of AI-generated content in academic journals poses a problem for the credibility of the scientific community. Some of the culprits are easier to weed out than others, but no one could expect an example as ridiculous as this latest case.

As spotted by a user on X-formerly-Twitter , a new study published this week in the journal Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology  — which is supposedly peer-reviewed , mind you — heavily features figures and diagrams that are obviously AI-generated. And, how should we put this? They're insane-looking nonsense.

Take a look, for example, at this diagram of an extremely well endowed mouse. The morphology is so grotesque and comical it defies any explanation, flaunting what appears to be a dissected view of testicles as nearly as large as the mouse itself. They're also protruding from its stomach and just sort of hanging out there in the open, tethered to some unknown upper anatomy out of the frame.

Note the emphasis on "appears to be," because the labels on the diagram are made up gobbledygook like "testtomcels," "retat," and "dck." But it did get a few things right though, like this helpful line pointing to the middle of the creature labeled "Rat."

To the researchers' credit, they weren't being deceptive, disclosing that the "images in this article were generated by Midjourney." Yet they appear to have made little or no effort to edit them, which ends up undermining their credibility anyway. Moral of the story: double check your AI-hallucinated stuff.

Speaking of double-checking, some members in the scientific community warn that Frontiers is what's known as a " predatory journal ," a type of publication that misleadingly claims to peer-review submissions while taking advantage of scientists desperate to get a paper published. If true, that might help explain why these absolutely confounding images didn't raise any alarms; no one, it seems, is doing any real checking.

It's worth noting, however, that not everyone agrees with that characterization of Frontiers,  as what journals are considered "predatory" remains a heated topic in the community. Addressing this most recent controversy, the publisher acknowledged that it's seen the "scrutiny" blowing up on social media.

"We thank the readers for their scrutiny of our articles: when we get it wrong, the crowdsourcing dynamic of open science means that community feedback helps us to quickly correct the record,"  Frontiers wrote on X .

Regardless of the publication, it's undeniable that generative AI has made worrying inroads into academia. Some papers have been more upfront by listing ChatGPT as a co-author . Others made no such disclosure, but managed to slip through peer review anyway .

The ones that do get caught often make careless mistakes , like forgetting to delete telltale AI phrases such as "regenerate response." In any case, the content an AI generates is usually filled with factual errors . That's a no-go for any kind of published material, but especially the scientific kind, which relies on highly technical knowledge that a general-purpose chatbot won't use correctly.

More on AI: OpenAI Hiring Detective to Find Who's Leaking Its Precious Info

The post Scientific Article With Insane AI-Generated Images Somehow Passes Peer Review appeared first on Futurism .

Among its series of baffling AI-generated images is a mislabeled figure of a mouse with grotesquely large testicles.

IMAGES

  1. 50 Smart Literature Review Templates (APA) ᐅ TemplateLab

    writing scientific review

  2. (PDF) WRITING A SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE: DESCRIBING RESULTS

    writing scientific review

  3. Tips For How To Write A Scientific Research Paper

    writing scientific review

  4. how to do a scientific review of literature

    writing scientific review

  5. (PDF) Peer review of scientific papers

    writing scientific review

  6. How to Write a Good Scientific Literature Review

    writing scientific review

VIDEO

  1. Scientific Writing Course 2024 02 05

  2. Research Study Introduction

  3. VIDEO PRESENTATION SCIENTIFIC WRITING

  4. #11- Introduction to scientific writing

  5. Top Tips for Writing Scientific Papers High Impact Journals

  6. Quoting: A Scientific Writing

COMMENTS

  1. How to write a good scientific review article

    Writing* Literature reviews are valuable resources for the scientific community. With research accelerating at an unprecedented speed in recent years and more and more original papers being published, review articles have become increasingly important as a means to keep up to date with developments in a part …

  2. A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Scientific Review Article

    Scientific review articles are comprehensive, focused reviews of the scientific literature written by subject matter experts. The task of writing a scientific review article can seem overwhelming; however, it can be managed by using an organized approach and devoting sufficient time to the process.

  3. How to write a good scientific review article

    Writing a review also enhances your publication record and highlights your in-depth knowledge of a research area, providing a platform for you to give your own perspectives on recent advances and the future trajectory of a particular research question.

  4. How to write a superb literature review

    Literature reviews are important resources for scientists. They provide historical context for a field while offering opinions on its future trajectory. Creating them can provide inspiration for...

  5. How to write a review paper

    Steps for Writing a Review Paper Before You Begin to Search or Write Clearly define the topic. Typically, a review writer works in the related field and already has a good knowledge of the topic, but not neces-sarily.

  6. How to Write a Scientific Review Article

    How to Write a Scientific Review Article Watch on Types of Review Articles A review article is not an original study. It examines previous studies and compiles their data and evidence. Based on their structure and formulation, literature reviews are broadly classified as- Narrative or Traditional Literature Reviews

  7. How to Write a Scientific Review Article

    Writing a review article is a wonderful way to develop and exercise your scientist skill set. If you dread the thought of writing a review, or if you're currently stuck trying to write one, hopefully this post will help you get things moving - remember you're becoming an expert in your field and are the perfect person to be writing the review!

  8. A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Scientific Review Article

    Abstract. Scientific review articles are comprehensive, focused reviews of the scientific literature written by subject matter experts. The task of writing a scientific review article can seem overwhelming; however, it can be managed by using an organized approach and devoting sufficient time to the process.

  9. A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Scientific Review Article

    Scientific review articles are comprehensive, focused reviews of the scientific literature written by subject matter experts. The task of writing a scientific review article can seem...

  10. How to write a review paper

    Writing the Review. 1Good scientific writing tells a story, so come up with a logical structure for your paper, with a beginning, middle, and end. Use appropriate headings and sequencing of ideas to make the content flow and guide readers seamlessly from start to finish.

  11. How to review a paper

    Writing a good review requires expertise in the field, an intimate knowledge of research methods, a critical mind, the ability to give fair and constructive feedback, and sensitivity to the feelings of authors on the receiving end.

  12. Tips for Writing a Scientific Review Article

    Give yourself plenty of time to write a scientific review. Compiling years of scientific progress into a short review article is not easy and it requires good understanding of the literature and implications of the discoveries made thus far. Most importantly, stay on time and submit your review article by the deadline.

  13. How to Write a Good Scientific Literature Review

    A scientific literature review usually includes a title, abstract, index, introduction, corpus, bibliography, and appendices (if needed). Present the problem clearly. Mention the paper's methodology, research methods, analysis, instruments, etc. Present literature review examples that can help you express your ideas. Remember to cite accurately.

  14. Writing a Literature Review

    Literature reviews provide a synthesis and evaluation of the existing literature on a particular topic with the aim of gaining a new, deeper understanding of the topic. Published literature reviews are typically written by scientists who are experts in that particular area of science.

  15. Scientific Writing Made Easy: A Step‐by‐Step Guide to Undergraduate

    Clear scientific writing generally follows a specific format with key sections: an introduction to a particular topic, hypotheses to be tested, a description of methods, key results, and finally, a discussion that ties these results to our broader knowledge of the topic (Day and Gastel 2012 ).

  16. How to conduct a review

    1. Before you begin Before you accept or decline an invitation to review, consider the following questions: Does the article match your area of expertise? Only accept if you feel you can provide a high-quality review. Do you have a potential conflict of interest ? Disclose this to the editor when you respond. Do you have time?

  17. PDF sci article review

    Summaries and critiques are two ways to write a review of a scientific journal article. Both types of writing ask you first to read and understand an article from the primary literature about your topic. The summary involves briefly but accurately stating the key points of the article for a reader who has not read the original article.

  18. Getting started

    What is a literature review? Definition: A literature review is a systematic examination and synthesis of existing scholarly research on a specific topic or subject. Purpose: It serves to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge within a particular field. Analysis: Involves critically evaluating and summarizing key findings, methodologies, and debates found in ...

  19. Writing a scientific article: A step-by-step guide for beginners

    We describe here the basic steps to follow in writing a scientific article. We outline the main sections that an average article should contain; the elements that should appear in these sections, and some pointers for making the overall result attractive and acceptable for publication. 1.

  20. Writing Science: What Makes Scientific Writing Hard and How to Make It

    Here, I discuss why the act of scientific writing is difficult and suggest simple strategies for developing the skill of scientific writing. By understanding why we find writing difficult, we can begin to test different practices that might increase our writing output. ... After you review an outline of what you want to write, warming up with a ...

  21. How to Write a Scientific Lab Report: A Short-Term Intervention for

    Scientific writing is an important skill that students develop during their undergraduate studies. The goal of this study is to evaluate whether developing a short-term intervention through a co-creation process can be effective for improving lab report writing skills and evaluate whether this approach is effective. The length and extent of interventions can often be dictated by the resources ...

  22. Physical Review Link Manager

    Physical Review Link Manager

  23. 'The situation has become appalling': fake scientific papers push

    Last year, 10,000 sham papers had to be retracted by academic journals, but experts think this is just the tip of the iceberg Tens of thousands of bogus research papers are being published in ...

  24. Scientific Article With Insane AI-Generated Images Somehow Passes ...

    Speaking of double-checking, some members in the scientific community warn that Frontiers is what's known as a "predatory journal," a type of publication that misleadingly claims to peer-review ...