Literature Review
- 324 installs
- 7 repo stars
- Updated January 15, 2026
- eyadsibai/ltk
literature-review is a research skill that surveys academic papers and prior art to ground product decisions, RAG corpora, or technical specifications before design or implementation begins.
About
literature-review is a systematic research skill at version 1.0.0 for developers and researchers who need evidence before building. It guides planning a research question, searching academic databases, synthesizing findings, identifying gaps, and assembling bibliographies for literature review sections, meta-analysis prep, or RAG corpus scoping. The workflow fits pre-design discovery when claims, architectures, or model choices need citation-backed justification. Use literature-review when triggers include literature review, research synthesis, systematic review, academic search, research gaps, or bibliography building.
- Structured paper discovery
- Source comparison and synthesis
- Evidence-backed recommendations
- Citation-ready summaries
- Feeds RAG and spec writing
Literature Review by the numbers
- 324 all-time installs (skills.sh)
- Ranked #441 of 1,879 Documentation skills by installs in the Skillselion catalog
- Data as of Jul 30, 2026 (Skillselion catalog sync)
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| Installs | 324 |
|---|---|
| repo stars | ★ 7 |
| Last updated | January 15, 2026 |
| Repository | eyadsibai/ltk ↗ |
How do you conduct a systematic literature review?
Survey academic papers and prior art to ground product decisions, RAG corpora, or technical specs before design or implementation begins.
Who is it for?
Developers and researchers grounding technical specs, RAG datasets, or product decisions in published prior art.
Skip if: Teams needing quick web summaries without academic rigor or projects past design where implementation—not literature— is the bottleneck.
When should I use this skill?
User asks for literature review, research synthesis, systematic review, academic search, research gaps, meta-analysis, or bibliography work.
What you get
Research synthesis, gap analysis, cited sources, and bibliography ready for specs or RAG corpora.
By the numbers
- Skill metadata lists version 1.0.0
Files
<!-- Adapted from: claude-scientific-skills/scientific-skills/literature-review -->
Literature Review Guide
Conduct comprehensive, systematic literature reviews using academic databases.
When to Use
- Conducting systematic literature reviews
- Synthesizing research on a topic
- Writing literature review sections
- Identifying research gaps
- Building bibliographies
Core Workflow
Phase 1: Planning
1. Define Research Question (PICO framework for clinical)
- Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome
2. Establish Scope
- Review type: narrative, systematic, scoping
- Time period, geographic scope
- Study types to include
3. Develop Search Strategy
- Key terms and synonyms
- Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT)
- Database-specific syntax
Phase 2: Searching
Key Databases:
| Database | Coverage |
|---|---|
| PubMed | Biomedical, life sciences |
| arXiv | Physics, CS, math preprints |
| Semantic Scholar | Broad academic |
| Google Scholar | Broad coverage |
| Web of Science | Multidisciplinary |
Search Strategy Template:
(term1 OR synonym1) AND (term2 OR synonym2) AND (term3)Phase 3: Screening
1. Title/Abstract Screening
- Apply inclusion/exclusion criteria
- Track reasons for exclusion
2. Full-Text Review
- Assess eligibility
- Extract key data
Phase 4: Synthesis
Organize Thematically:
## Theme 1: [Topic]
- Finding A (Author, Year)
- Finding B (Author, Year)
- Synthesis and gaps
## Theme 2: [Topic]
...Comparison Table:
| Study | Methods | Sample | Key Findings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Author 2023 | RCT | n=100 | Finding X |
| Author 2022 | Cohort | n=500 | Finding Y |
Phase 5: Writing
Structure:
1. Introduction (scope, objectives) 2. Methods (search strategy, criteria) 3. Results (thematic synthesis) 4. Discussion (gaps, future directions) 5. Conclusion
Citation Management
Citation Styles
**APA 7:**
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title. Journal, Volume(Issue), pages. https://doi.org/xxx
**Nature:**
Author, A. A. & Author, B. B. Title. Journal Volume, pages (Year).
**Vancouver:**
Author AA, Author BB. Title. Journal. Year;Volume(Issue):pages.Tools
- Zotero (free, open source)
- Mendeley (free)
- EndNote (institutional)
Quality Assessment
For RCTs: Cochrane Risk of Bias tool For Observational: Newcastle-Ottawa Scale For Qualitative: CASP checklist
PRISMA Flow Diagram
Records identified (n=X)
↓
Duplicates removed (n=X)
↓
Records screened (n=X)
↓
Records excluded (n=X)
↓
Full-text assessed (n=X)
↓
Studies included (n=X)Best Practices
1. Document everything - reproducibility 2. Use multiple databases - comprehensive coverage 3. Two reviewers - reduce bias (when possible) 4. Pre-register protocol - transparency 5. Update searches - before publication
Common Pitfalls
- Publication bias (positive results overrepresented)
- Language bias (English-only searches)
- Citation bias (citing famous papers)
- Not updating searches before submission
Resources
- PRISMA Guidelines: <http://prisma-statement.org/>
- Cochrane Handbook: <https://training.cochrane.org/handbook>
- PROSPERO (protocol registration): <https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/>
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When should literature-review be invoked?
literature-review activates for literature review, research synthesis, systematic review, academic search, find papers, cite sources, research gaps, meta-analysis, or bibliography requests before design or implementation.
What outputs does literature-review produce?
literature-review delivers synthesized findings, identified research gaps, and structured bibliographies suitable for technical specifications, review sections, or scoping RAG document corpora.