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There are many types of literature reviews and the one that you choose will depend on your discipline and the research you need to carry out.
This guide provides general information that can be applied to searching for literature for any type of review.
Please contact Ask a Librarian if you would like help with your specific searching requirements.
There are several review 'families' and many types of reviews as identified by Sutton et al [1]. Each type of review serves a different purpose and involves different timeline and methodology requirements.
| Type of Review | Definition | Timeline and Requirements |
| Literature or Narrative Review | A qualitative investigation that summarises evidence on a topic. Will mostly use informal or subjective methods to collect and analyse material. | Weeks to months of work. May involve more than one author. Requirements and reporting on searching are not standardised. The level of searching and reporting of search strategies and process will vary. |
| Scoping Review | A protocol-driven research paper using transparent methodology to map or chart literature or research question. Can be focused on a specific question or have a wider scope. | Will usually take one or more authors many months of work, possibly a year or more. Search strategy will be expected to be comprehensive and reported and involves searching multiple sources. |
| Rapid Review | A focused review, looking for an answer to a protocol-driven specific research question expected to be completed in a short time frame. | Authors will be expected to register a protocol with predetermined eligibility criteria. The search process is expected to be systematic, thoroughly documented and replicable. One or more authors will usually take several weeks to a few months to provide timely evidence for decision-making purposes. |
| Systematic Review (refer to the CSIRO guide for more details) |
A protocol-driven academic research paper aimed at answering a specific research question. Expected to be transparent and reproducible. | In order to eliminate bias, formal systematic reviews will usually require 3 or more authors working for up to a year. A systematic, replicable, well documented and reported search process is required, with supplementary searching often recommended. Assessment of the quality and validity of included studies and findings is required and data extraction and statistical analysis may be included depending on the discipline/research area. |
| Umbrella Review | A review of previously published systematic reviews and/or meta-analyses regarding a clearly defined topic or question. | One or more authors will need to carry out a systematic and replicable search strategy, searching multiple databases and repositories of systematic reviews as well as hand searching subject specific repositories, journals and other sources. Generally faster than a stand alone systematic review. |
| Meta-analysis | A method which synthesises quantitative (or in some cases qualitative) findings of multiple studies via the use of statistical methods. | Similar to a systematic review, which it often follows, authors will need to take a systematic approach to searching and evaluating studies to be included in the meta-analysis, including how to make study selections with a mind to how the data in each study will be pooled. |
If you are unsure which approach best suits the work you would like to undertake, consider using Right Review, a tool designed to provide researchers with guidance and supporting material on methods for conducting literature reviews.
1. Anthea Sutton, Mark Clowes, Louise Preston, Andrew Booth, Meeting the review family: exploring review types and associated information retrieval requirements, Health Information and Libraries Journal, volume 36, issue 3, September 2019, pp. 202-222