Review papers, as suggestive of their names, provide reviews on existing studies and literature to sort out the current knowledge in a given field or subject area. It is often called a survey article as well, and is a part of secondary literature/study. Unlike other research articles, review papers do not establish new facts or contribute to the subject by adding knowledge to it. These papers survey the previously done relevant studies in a given subject area and summarizes the highlights of those studies in one place.
Depending on the subject domain and research area, the review paper can differ in terms of writing and style. There are basically three types of reviews:
These reviews do not generally have a problem criteria to address, it just has a topic area in consideration. Studies done in that topic are surveyed to describe a research problem of interest which can be addressed but has not been discussed in the surveyed literature.
Unlike the broader perspective of narrative reviews, systematic review writing has a predetermined study criteria and research question. The systematic review summarizes the findings and processes used in the previous studies and addresses the research gaps.
Developing a meta-analysis review article is similar to systematic review writing in terms of predetermined research questions. However, in meta-analysis, the statistics part only is reviewed and compared to find discrepancies among the findings and where did the problem arise.
Based on the types of reviews, the review paper or review article are also distinguished between two types: review papers based on research gaps and review papers based on comparison.
In the first case, the review articles are developed on the basis of research gaps found in the previously existing studies. Finding these research gaps are considered beneficial as they help in for future studies but the author must be able to highlight how the research can take place to cover the existing research gaps as there are different types of research gaps : Population Gap, Evidence Gap, Knowledge Gap, Practical-Knowledge Gap, Methodology Gap, Empirical Gap, and Theoretical Gap.
For the second type of review articles, the paper is based on comparison between the studies. This does not establish any unique point or highlight the research gaps which can be used by other academics. It just draws the comparison which shows the improvement in the study area and knowledge contributed by the existing studies. The comparison can be based on individual opinion of authors, time gap which has brought newer technologies and approaches to light, geographical comparisons which show the changes in results in regards to the difference in country of place, and so on.
Writing a review paper does not contribute to the current knowledge about a subject area, rather it facilitates the future researchers to successfully work on the research gaps identified through these. So, what is exactly the benefit of writing a review article?
As a student pursuing higher education, developing a review article can help you in your academic field for the following reasons.
Not just in your student life but also academic career, writing a review article can help you in so many ways, such as:
After providing review paper writing services for years, we have come across many questions like how to decide which type of review paper needs to be developed for a specific research area or what is the purpose of writing a review article when it does not work on anything new.
Review articles can be written in each and every subject domain that exists; however, it differs only when it comes to the types of review paper.
From article to article, the purpose of developing a review paper can differ. Below are a few objectives because of which review articles are written.
Before writing a review paper or any research document for that matter, it is important to know the required format. Usually, the format of a review paper remains the same but it may vary depending on the target journal. To provide a general overview, a review paper contains:
A review paper development does not only include writing, formatting, and editing, but also the pre-review paper writing and post-review paper writing phases. To improve the quality of your review article, it is important to understand these phases as well.
In order to know where to publish your review article, you must know the review paper’s publication criteria by the target journal.
Once you answer these questions, you will be able to identify where you can publish your review article. Below are a few names for journal publications which publish review articles.
Depending on the topic and journal reviewing time, the expected time of getting the review paper published may range from 3 months to 6 months during which it remains under the editorial and peer-review (in some cases) stages. In some rare cases, it can take about a year as well to get your review article finally published.
Even though Review Articles are cited more often because of their compilation of findings from more than one research work, the chances of a review paper getting published is lesser than empirical papers or technical papers which bring forward new findings and contribute to the current subject knowledge.
The journal publication prioritizes original scientific research over the analysis and summary of existing knowledge. Finding review articles with good quality is harder than finding research work with new ideas. Therefore, the chances of getting a review article published in a journal can be null, if the journal editor has to choose between an empirical paper and review article.
Most of the review articles get published because of the author who wrote them as the journal editors look for established researchers, with a good impact factor and in-depth knowledge in the concerned field, to provide review on existing knowledge.
For authors or researchers with no previously established research experience, it becomes harder to get published. As an author or researcher, you can improve the chances of getting your review article published in a reputed journal by:
Not all review paper writing services are perfect and when we say perfect, we mean it as per your requirements. However, Five Vidya promises to give the best possible output depending on the problems faced by the researcher and designing the service in order to eradicate those problems.
If you are also looking for any of the services listed above or if you are also planning to write your review article before passing out from your PhD program, send your queries to us and get started.
Five Vidya is a team of academic experts who joined hands to assist young scholars and researchers to successfully complete their PhD thesis. Our office and services are based out of Bangalore and Hyderabad (India). We provide academic services including PhD thesis writing, thesis editing, software implementation, journal manuscript writing, business case studies development, and so on
Disclaimer:" FiveVidya is a team of academic research consultants, writers and editors who provide ethical and comprehensive support for doctoral candidates for their research. FiveVidya does not provide any ready to submit work for their clients"
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