literature review topics in economics

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This page is meant to help you create a literature review for academic projects and publications. Each tab outlines a different aspect of what a literature review is and how to build one. If you need help finding sources for your literature reviews, check out How To pages.

How to Build a Literature Review

• What is a Lit Review?
• Why Write a Lit Review?
• Building a Lit Review
• Prepping for a Lit Review
• Basic Example
• Other Resources/Examples

What is a Literature Review?

A literature review is a comprehensive summary and analysis of previously published research on a particular topic. Literature reviews should give the reader an overview of the important theories and themes that have previously been discussed on the topic, as well as any important researchers who have contributed to the discourse. This review should connect the established conclusions to the hypothesis being presented in the rest of the paper.

What a Literature Review Is Not:

• Annotated Bibliography: An annotated bibliography summarizes and assesses each resource individually and separately. A literature review explores the connections between different articles to illustrate important themes/theories/research trends within a larger research area. 
• Timeline: While a literature review can be organized chronologically, they are not simple timelines of previous events. They should not be a list of any kind. Individual examples or events should be combined to illustrate larger ideas or concepts.
• Argumentative Paper: Literature reviews are not meant to be making an argument. They are explorations of a concept to give the audience an understanding of what has already been written and researched about an idea. As many perspectives as possible should be included in a literature review in order to give the reader as comprehensive understanding of a topic as possible.

Why Write a Literature Review?

After reading the literature review, the reader should have a basic understanding of the topic. A reader should be able to come into your paper without really knowing anything about an idea, and after reading the literature, feel more confident about the important points.

A literature review should also help the reader understand the focus the rest of the paper will take within the larger topic. If the reader knows what has already been studied, they will be better prepared for the novel argument that is about to be made.

A literature review should help the reader understand the important history, themes, events, and ideas about a particular topic. Connections between ideas/themes should also explored. Part of the importance of a literature review is to prove to experts who do read your paper that you are knowledgeable enough to contribute to the academic discussion. You have to have done your homework.

A literature review should also identify the gaps in research to show the reader what hasn't yet been explored. Your thesis should ideally address one of the gaps identified in the research. Scholarly articles are meant to push academic conversations forward with new ideas and arguments. Before knowing where the gaps are in a topic, you need to have read what others have written.

What does a literature review look like?

As mentioned in other tabs, literature reviews should discuss the big ideas that make up a topic. Each literature review should be broken up into different subtopics. Each subtopic should use groups of articles as evidence to support the ideas. There are several different ways of organizing a literature review. It will depend on the patterns one sees in the groups of articles as to which strategy should be used. Here are a few examples of how to organize your review:

Chronological

If there are clear trends that change over time, a chronological approach could be used to organize a literature review. For example, one might argue that in the 1970s, the predominant theories and themes argued something. However, in the 1980s, the theories evolved to something else. Then, in the 1990s, theories evolved further. Each decade is a subtopic, and articles should be used as examples. 

Themes/Theories

There may also be clear distinctions between schools of thought within a topic, a theoretical breakdown may be most appropriate. Each theory could be a subtopic, and articles supporting the theme should be included as evidence for each one. 

If researchers mainly differ in the way they went about conducting research, literature reviews can be organized by methodology. Each type of method could be a subtopic,  and articles using the method should be included as evidence for each one.

Preliminary Steps for Literature Review

• Define your research question
• Compile a list of initial keywords to use for searching based on question
• Search for literature that discusses the topics surrounding your research question
• Assess and organize your literature into logical groups
• Identify gaps in research and conduct secondary searches (if necessary)
• Reassess and reorganize literature again (if necessary)
• Write review

Here is an example of a literature review, taken from the beginning of a research article. You can find other examples within most scholarly research articles. The majority of published scholarship includes a literature review section, and you can use those to become more familiar with these reviews.

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• ISU Writing Assistance The Julia N. Visor Academic Center provides one-on-one writing assistance for any course or need. By focusing on the writing process instead of merely on grammar and editing, we are committed to making you a better writer.
• University of Toronto: The Literature Review Written by Dena Taylor, Health Sciences Writing Centre
• Purdue OWL - Writing a Lit Review Goes over the basic steps
• UW Madison Writing Center - Review of Literature A description of what each piece of a literature review should entail.
• USC Libraries - Literature Reviews Offers detailed guidance on how to develop, organize, and write a college-level research paper in the social and behavioral sciences.
• Creating the literature review: integrating research questions and arguments Blog post with very helpful overview for how to organize and build/integrate arguments in a literature review
• Understanding, Selecting, and Integrating a Theoretical Framework in Dissertation Research: Creating the Blueprint for Your “House” Article focusing on constructing a literature review for a dissertation. Still very relevant for literature reviews in other types of content.

A note that many of these examples will be far longer and in-depth than what's required for your assignment. However, they will give you an idea of the general structure and components of a literature review. Additionally, most scholarly articles will include a literature review section. Looking over the articles you have been assigned in classes will also help you.

• Sample Literature Review (Univ. of Florida) This guide will provide research and writing tips to help students complete a literature review assignment.
• Sociology Literature Review (Univ. of Hawaii) Written in ASA citation style - don't follow this format.
• Sample Lit Review - Univ. of Vermont Includes an example with tips in the footnotes.
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I.  What is a Literature Review? The purpose of a review is to analyze critically a segment of a published body of knowledge through summary, classification, and comparison of prior research studies. It can be a simple summary of the sources, but it usually has an organizational pattern, combining both summary and synthesis.

• Review of the Literature (Wisconsin)
• Systematic Literature Review vs Narrative Reviews
• Get Lit: the Literature Review Candace Schaefer in the Texas A&M University Writing Center.

III.  What Major Steps and Basic Elements Literature Reviews Require?

• Overview of the subject, issue or theory under consideration, along with the objectives of literature review
• Perform a literature review, finding materials relevant to the subject being explored
• Division of works under review into categories (e.g. those in support of a particular position, those against, etc)
• Explanation of how each work is similar to and how it varies from the others
• Conclusions as to which pieces are best considered in their argument, are most convincing of their opinions, and make the greatest contribution to the understanding and development of their area of research
• Write a Lit Review (UCSC)

IV.    Which Citation Tool Are You Going to Use to Manage the Literature Sources? Choose your citation tool before conducing your literature reviews.  There are a number of choices, including following software supported by the Libraries and the University:

• RefWorks Available at no cost to Texas A&M affiliates.
• EndNote Available for free through a campus-wide site license.

Cited Reference Searching

Cited references are the sources consulted in writing an article or a book, often referred to within the text of the work. A list of cited references may appear as Bibliographic Notes, Footnotes or Endnotes, References, List of Sources Cited or Consulted. In order for an article to be cited, it needs to have been published for a long enough period of time for another published article, citing it to appear.

These listings can be helpful in a number of ways:

• Finding an article on a relevant topic and accumulating similar helpful resources
• Following a specific idea or theory back to its first appearance in the literature
• Finding articles that build on a specific theory or the most recent article on a topic
• Identifying experts or leaders on a specific topic
• Documenting scholarly reputation and impact for tenure and promotion

The cited reference databases are efficient in pulling together many articles on a topic with their references and in identifying which articles on a topic have been cited most frequently.  They can also help identify the “top” journals in a field by impact factor, which may be useful for assessing them.

• Web of Science This link opens in a new window covers the world’s leading scholarly literature in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities and examines proceedings of international conferences, symposia, seminars, colloquia, workshops, and conventions. It also includes cited references and citation mapping functions.

Searches can be done by:

• Title or Topic
•  Author or Editor – The Author Finder tool includes variations on an author’s name
• Journal or Publication Name
• Grant Name or Funding Agency
• Limited by year, Language, Document Type 

The citation of the article  will be retrieved with its references as well as the number of times cited and by whom.

You can refine your search results by subject area, useful when there is more than one author with the same name, or by document type.  You can see the number of articles in your set contributed by particular authors and institutions and can create a citation report to identify which articles in your results have been cited the most.

You can easily export your results to bibliographic software like EndNote or RefWorks.

Articles can be searched by:

• Abstract word or keyword
• Source or journal
• Author (by name or by affiliation)
• Limit by date or document type

The database allows accounts to be set up and can save search alerts and journals lists.  Scopus also provides journal analytics including data and graphs to illustrate the total citations, articles published, trend line and % not cited over time.  It has the ability to exclude self-citations.

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Definition of Literature Reviews

A literature review surveys books, scholarly articles, and any other sources relevant to your research topic or thesis statement. It should provide a theoretical summary or critical evaluation of these scholarly works. You will need to analyze, evaluate , and s ynthesize the research that you’ve found on your topic. A literature review should give context to your thesis and, if possible, reveal any gaps in current literature. 

5 Steps for completing your Literature Review

• Look at other literature reviews
• Choose a topic that interests you
• This is important to do otherwise the literature you find will be too massive 
• You can look for books using the Library Search
• ​Preferably in EconLit
• Find sources from the reference papers that relate to your topic
• Search for those items by typing in the titles in the University Libraries “ Find It ” box
• I recommend keeping notes with Evernote because it is Open Source and once you create an account you can access it from any device
• I recommend Zotero , again it is Open Source and accessible from anywhere
• Once you've collected, read, noted, and saved your citations and resources you should begin to see patterns
• ​​Skim your notes to sort out themes (methodologies, data, results, etc.) 
• Does a topic develop over time 
• Do authors agree with each other or disagree on methodology or conclusions
• What strengths or weaknesses did you find in the literature
• Don't forget that you're trying to relate this literature to the story you wish to tell and you may find some of your articles fall out of your scope--make note of that to determine whether to mention them or not--talk to your professor about out of scope titles
• Make an outline or structural form of your review
• Remember your audience when writing
• Avoid too much jargon
• ​Be concise; don't go off on tangents; stay focused on your thesis statement
• Your purpose for writing the review
• Overview of the problem
• What is the scope of your review
• Talk about the amount of literature you found
• Chronological order
• Advancements of theories 
• Questions related to topic
• Summarize your findings
• Expose gaps in knowledge
• Provide a rationale for future research
• References in APA style

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What is in a Literature Review?

A literature review may consist of simply a summary of key sources, but i t usually has an organizational pattern and combines both summary and synthesis , often within specific conceptual categories. 

• A summary is a recap of the important information of the source
• A synthesis is a re-organization, or a reshuffling, of that information in a way that informs how you are planning to investigate a research problem.

What is the purpose of a literature review?

• To demonstrate to your readers what you know about your topic
• To bring your readers up-to-date and fill them in on what has been published on your topic
• To allow you a better understanding of your topic

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• How to Write a Literature Review | Guide, Examples, & Templates

How to Write a Literature Review | Guide, Examples, & Templates

Published on January 2, 2023 by Shona McCombes . Revised on September 11, 2023.

What is a literature review? A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources on a specific topic. It provides an overview of current knowledge, allowing you to identify relevant theories, methods, and gaps in the existing research that you can later apply to your paper, thesis, or dissertation topic .

There are five key steps to writing a literature review:

• Search for relevant literature
• Evaluate sources
• Identify themes, debates, and gaps
• Outline the structure
• Write your literature review

A good literature review doesn’t just summarize sources—it analyzes, synthesizes , and critically evaluates to give a clear picture of the state of knowledge on the subject.

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Table of contents

What is the purpose of a literature review, examples of literature reviews, step 1 – search for relevant literature, step 2 – evaluate and select sources, step 3 – identify themes, debates, and gaps, step 4 – outline your literature review’s structure, step 5 – write your literature review, free lecture slides, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions, introduction.

• Quick Run-through
• Step 1 & 2

When you write a thesis , dissertation , or research paper , you will likely have to conduct a literature review to situate your research within existing knowledge. The literature review gives you a chance to:

• Demonstrate your familiarity with the topic and its scholarly context
• Develop a theoretical framework and methodology for your research
• Position your work in relation to other researchers and theorists
• Show how your research addresses a gap or contributes to a debate
• Evaluate the current state of research and demonstrate your knowledge of the scholarly debates around your topic.

Writing literature reviews is a particularly important skill if you want to apply for graduate school or pursue a career in research. We’ve written a step-by-step guide that you can follow below.

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See an example

Writing literature reviews can be quite challenging! A good starting point could be to look at some examples, depending on what kind of literature review you’d like to write.

• Example literature review #1: “Why Do People Migrate? A Review of the Theoretical Literature” ( Theoretical literature review about the development of economic migration theory from the 1950s to today.)
• Example literature review #2: “Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines” ( Methodological literature review about interdisciplinary knowledge acquisition and production.)
• Example literature review #3: “The Use of Technology in English Language Learning: A Literature Review” ( Thematic literature review about the effects of technology on language acquisition.)
• Example literature review #4: “Learners’ Listening Comprehension Difficulties in English Language Learning: A Literature Review” ( Chronological literature review about how the concept of listening skills has changed over time.)

You can also check out our templates with literature review examples and sample outlines at the links below.

Download Word doc Download Google doc

Before you begin searching for literature, you need a clearly defined topic .

If you are writing the literature review section of a dissertation or research paper, you will search for literature related to your research problem and questions .

Make a list of keywords

Start by creating a list of keywords related to your research question. Include each of the key concepts or variables you’re interested in, and list any synonyms and related terms. You can add to this list as you discover new keywords in the process of your literature search.

• Social media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok
• Body image, self-perception, self-esteem, mental health
• Generation Z, teenagers, adolescents, youth

Search for relevant sources

Use your keywords to begin searching for sources. Some useful databases to search for journals and articles include:

• Your university’s library catalogue
• Google Scholar
• Project Muse (humanities and social sciences)
• Medline (life sciences and biomedicine)
• EconLit (economics)
• Inspec (physics, engineering and computer science)

You can also use boolean operators to help narrow down your search.

Make sure to read the abstract to find out whether an article is relevant to your question. When you find a useful book or article, you can check the bibliography to find other relevant sources.

You likely won’t be able to read absolutely everything that has been written on your topic, so it will be necessary to evaluate which sources are most relevant to your research question.

For each publication, ask yourself:

• What question or problem is the author addressing?
• What are the key concepts and how are they defined?
• What are the key theories, models, and methods?
• Does the research use established frameworks or take an innovative approach?
• What are the results and conclusions of the study?
• How does the publication relate to other literature in the field? Does it confirm, add to, or challenge established knowledge?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the research?

Make sure the sources you use are credible , and make sure you read any landmark studies and major theories in your field of research.

You can use our template to summarize and evaluate sources you’re thinking about using. Click on either button below to download.

Take notes and cite your sources

As you read, you should also begin the writing process. Take notes that you can later incorporate into the text of your literature review.

It is important to keep track of your sources with citations to avoid plagiarism . It can be helpful to make an annotated bibliography , where you compile full citation information and write a paragraph of summary and analysis for each source. This helps you remember what you read and saves time later in the process.

To begin organizing your literature review’s argument and structure, be sure you understand the connections and relationships between the sources you’ve read. Based on your reading and notes, you can look for:

• Trends and patterns (in theory, method or results): do certain approaches become more or less popular over time?
• Themes: what questions or concepts recur across the literature?
• Debates, conflicts and contradictions: where do sources disagree?
• Pivotal publications: are there any influential theories or studies that changed the direction of the field?
• Gaps: what is missing from the literature? Are there weaknesses that need to be addressed?

This step will help you work out the structure of your literature review and (if applicable) show how your own research will contribute to existing knowledge.

• Most research has focused on young women.
• There is an increasing interest in the visual aspects of social media.
• But there is still a lack of robust research on highly visual platforms like Instagram and Snapchat—this is a gap that you could address in your own research.

There are various approaches to organizing the body of a literature review. Depending on the length of your literature review, you can combine several of these strategies (for example, your overall structure might be thematic, but each theme is discussed chronologically).

Chronological

The simplest approach is to trace the development of the topic over time. However, if you choose this strategy, be careful to avoid simply listing and summarizing sources in order.

Try to analyze patterns, turning points and key debates that have shaped the direction of the field. Give your interpretation of how and why certain developments occurred.

If you have found some recurring central themes, you can organize your literature review into subsections that address different aspects of the topic.

For example, if you are reviewing literature about inequalities in migrant health outcomes, key themes might include healthcare policy, language barriers, cultural attitudes, legal status, and economic access.

Methodological

If you draw your sources from different disciplines or fields that use a variety of research methods , you might want to compare the results and conclusions that emerge from different approaches. For example:

• Look at what results have emerged in qualitative versus quantitative research
• Discuss how the topic has been approached by empirical versus theoretical scholarship
• Divide the literature into sociological, historical, and cultural sources

Theoretical

A literature review is often the foundation for a theoretical framework . You can use it to discuss various theories, models, and definitions of key concepts.

You might argue for the relevance of a specific theoretical approach, or combine various theoretical concepts to create a framework for your research.

Like any other academic text , your literature review should have an introduction , a main body, and a conclusion . What you include in each depends on the objective of your literature review.

The introduction should clearly establish the focus and purpose of the literature review.

Depending on the length of your literature review, you might want to divide the body into subsections. You can use a subheading for each theme, time period, or methodological approach.

As you write, you can follow these tips:

• Summarize and synthesize: give an overview of the main points of each source and combine them into a coherent whole
• Analyze and interpret: don’t just paraphrase other researchers — add your own interpretations where possible, discussing the significance of findings in relation to the literature as a whole
• Critically evaluate: mention the strengths and weaknesses of your sources
• Write in well-structured paragraphs: use transition words and topic sentences to draw connections, comparisons and contrasts

In the conclusion, you should summarize the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasize their significance.

When you’ve finished writing and revising your literature review, don’t forget to proofread thoroughly before submitting. Not a language expert? Check out Scribbr’s professional proofreading services !

This article has been adapted into lecture slides that you can use to teach your students about writing a literature review.

Scribbr slides are free to use, customize, and distribute for educational purposes.

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If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Sampling methods
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Research bias

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A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources (such as books, journal articles, and theses) related to a specific topic or research question .

It is often written as part of a thesis, dissertation , or research paper , in order to situate your work in relation to existing knowledge.

There are several reasons to conduct a literature review at the beginning of a research project:

• To familiarize yourself with the current state of knowledge on your topic
• To ensure that you’re not just repeating what others have already done
• To identify gaps in knowledge and unresolved problems that your research can address
• To develop your theoretical framework and methodology
• To provide an overview of the key findings and debates on the topic

Writing the literature review shows your reader how your work relates to existing research and what new insights it will contribute.

The literature review usually comes near the beginning of your thesis or dissertation . After the introduction , it grounds your research in a scholarly field and leads directly to your theoretical framework or methodology .

A literature review is a survey of credible sources on a topic, often used in dissertations , theses, and research papers . Literature reviews give an overview of knowledge on a subject, helping you identify relevant theories and methods, as well as gaps in existing research. Literature reviews are set up similarly to other  academic texts , with an introduction , a main body, and a conclusion .

An  annotated bibliography is a list of  source references that has a short description (called an annotation ) for each of the sources. It is often assigned as part of the research process for a  paper .  

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What is a literature review?

A literature review provides an overview of the scholarly literature (e.g. books, articles, dissertations, proceedings) relevant to an area of research or theory. The review typically will include a summary of the major questions in a area and critical evaluations of work that has already been done. Literature reviews are also helpful for their comprehensive bibliographies. This  webpage by the UC Santa Cruz Library  does a good job of explaining lit reviews.

Literature reviews typically include these components:

• An overview of the subject
• Organization of relevant publications into subtopics, theoretical areas, or key debates
• An analysis and discussion of how various works relate to one another the the relevant questions
• A discussion of unresolved questions or future directions
• Some will also include discussions of key data collection and analysis methodologies

The following two resources are great places to start when compiling a comprehensive bibliography.

• Browse by Economics or just run search. Note that you can limit by access that Emory has. Great bibliographies and overviews.
• Great resource for building initial literature reviews, identifying important figures in the literature, and engaging with major theories. Emory has a subscription to all the Handbooks.
• Series to which Emory subscribes, somewhat dated, but which include significant essays and studies across most areas of Economics, including monetary, financial, health, and educational economics.
• Up to date reviews of the economics and reviews literature, published annually, with an emphasis on overviews and more recent approaches and theories.  Note that the HTML version is good for tracing citations.

Also consult  reference works, encyclopedias, and handbooks  to identify relevant terminology.

• Did you find an article you really like?  Then, pay close attention to the cited references (a.k.a. bibliography, end notes, footnotes) to find similar articles. This can bias your project by focusing on only one side of an issue so use caution with this method.
• Ask for help. Ask a librarian for search tips. Also, use the help screens in the databases for instructions and tips.

Search Databases and Catalogs

The library catalog , and these databases are good places to start for most social science projects:

• Scopus  or  Web of Science  - Two interdisciplinary databases that cover science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and arts and humanities.
• JSTOR  - Access to a wide variety of journal articles in the humanities, social sciences, and area studies

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Introduction: Write your research with literature review and citation

What is a literature review, help with writing papers.

At the Library, we offer a collection of guides and resources to help you conduct your literature review, cite your sources (including data), and develop your academic writing skills.

Research, and the literature review in particular, is a cyclical process. There is an art to the sometimes messy, thrilling, and frustrating process of conducting a lit review.

• Read widely but selectively.
• Follow the citation trail -- building on previous research by reviewing bibliographies of articles and books that are close to your interest.
• Synthesize previous research on the topic.
• Focus on ways to have the body of literature tell its own story. Do not add your own interpretations at this point.
• Look for patterns and find ways of tying the pieces together.

Conducting a literature review

• Throw out a wide net and read, read, read. 
• How many sources do you need? What types of sources? Which citation style should you use? What time period should it cover? Is currency important? What do you need to be aware of related to scholarly versus popular materials?
• Explored synonyms and alternative phrases in your searches. You will eventually begin to find the same articles and materials in your searches.

Writing a literature review

• The initial work Identify the organizational structure you want to use: chronologically, thematically, or methodologically
• Start writing: let the literature tell the story, find the best examples, summarize instead of quote, synthesize by rephrasing (but cite!) in the context of your work

Below are a few key resources to get you started:

• Citation by Academic Engagement Last Updated May 24, 2024 42266 views this year
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• Developing a Thesis for a Research Paper This very helpful guide from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Writing Center discusses the art of crafting a thesis.
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Trick #1: Find review/survey articles

Step A: Use the JEL subject classification system and the EconLit Thesaurus to identify subject terms. Perform a search in EconLit for these as descriptors. Step B: Use the Index of Journal Titles in EconLit to perform a search for Journal of Economic Perpsectives OR Journal of Economic Literature. Step C: Use the History search in EconLit to combine the first two searches. Step D: Browse the results for relevant review/survey articles.

Trick #2: Mine bibliographies

With review articles, or theoretical or empirical articles you've already found, search the Social Sciences Citation Index for other articles that cite them. Pay close attention, also, to possible data sources.

Trick #3: Use the articles you've already found to search more effectively in bibliographic databases and research web sites.

When you search for articles, don't rely strictly on keyword searches. Authors: After identifying important articles in your area, search for more articles by those authors. Descriptors: Also, search in databases like EconLit for an articles you've already read. Look at the descriptors used by the database to describe it. Perform new searches based on those descriptors. Organizations: Organizations publish reports, too. If you identify a relevant organization, like the Mediamark (a company that surveys the public), for example, search for that organization as an author.

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Developing a Literature Review

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The Literature Review makes the case for your research. To do so effectively, follow these steps:

• I dentify what you already know in the research - What existing studies and papers led you to start this project? Take a look at the works cited on these studies since it will lead you to other research.
• Create an annotated bibliography - It will help you remember the key points of the information you are reading.
• Map key studies and researchers in your field - What is the most significant work? Who are the key researchers? What questions do they ask in their research? How has the research grown, and what obstacles still remain in the field? If you are uncertain about the prominent thinkers and what the key issues are in your field, you can sometimes reverse engineer based on your known studies. Ask yourself as you read, who are the authors and works I'm seeing cited frequently? Add those to your bibliography.
• Ask experts in the field - Faculty members, subject librarians, or even people you follow on social media, who and what they see as integral to the field?

How to develop a literature review from Academic Research Foundations: Quantitative by Rolin Moe

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• What is a Literature Review? | Guide, Template, & Examples

What is a Literature Review? | Guide, Template, & Examples

Published on 22 February 2022 by Shona McCombes . Revised on 7 June 2022.

What is a literature review? A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources on a specific topic. It provides an overview of current knowledge, allowing you to identify relevant theories, methods, and gaps in the existing research.

There are five key steps to writing a literature review:

• Search for relevant literature
• Evaluate sources
• Identify themes, debates and gaps
• Outline the structure
• Write your literature review

A good literature review doesn’t just summarise sources – it analyses, synthesises, and critically evaluates to give a clear picture of the state of knowledge on the subject.

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Table of contents

Why write a literature review, examples of literature reviews, step 1: search for relevant literature, step 2: evaluate and select sources, step 3: identify themes, debates and gaps, step 4: outline your literature review’s structure, step 5: write your literature review, frequently asked questions about literature reviews, introduction.

• Quick Run-through
• Step 1 & 2

When you write a dissertation or thesis, you will have to conduct a literature review to situate your research within existing knowledge. The literature review gives you a chance to:

• Demonstrate your familiarity with the topic and scholarly context
• Develop a theoretical framework and methodology for your research
• Position yourself in relation to other researchers and theorists
• Show how your dissertation addresses a gap or contributes to a debate

You might also have to write a literature review as a stand-alone assignment. In this case, the purpose is to evaluate the current state of research and demonstrate your knowledge of scholarly debates around a topic.

The content will look slightly different in each case, but the process of conducting a literature review follows the same steps. We’ve written a step-by-step guide that you can follow below.

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Writing literature reviews can be quite challenging! A good starting point could be to look at some examples, depending on what kind of literature review you’d like to write.

• Example literature review #1: “Why Do People Migrate? A Review of the Theoretical Literature” ( Theoretical literature review about the development of economic migration theory from the 1950s to today.)
• Example literature review #2: “Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines” ( Methodological literature review about interdisciplinary knowledge acquisition and production.)
• Example literature review #3: “The Use of Technology in English Language Learning: A Literature Review” ( Thematic literature review about the effects of technology on language acquisition.)
• Example literature review #4: “Learners’ Listening Comprehension Difficulties in English Language Learning: A Literature Review” ( Chronological literature review about how the concept of listening skills has changed over time.)

You can also check out our templates with literature review examples and sample outlines at the links below.

Download Word doc Download Google doc

Before you begin searching for literature, you need a clearly defined topic .

If you are writing the literature review section of a dissertation or research paper, you will search for literature related to your research objectives and questions .

If you are writing a literature review as a stand-alone assignment, you will have to choose a focus and develop a central question to direct your search. Unlike a dissertation research question, this question has to be answerable without collecting original data. You should be able to answer it based only on a review of existing publications.

Make a list of keywords

Start by creating a list of keywords related to your research topic. Include each of the key concepts or variables you’re interested in, and list any synonyms and related terms. You can add to this list if you discover new keywords in the process of your literature search.

• Social media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok
• Body image, self-perception, self-esteem, mental health
• Generation Z, teenagers, adolescents, youth

Search for relevant sources

Use your keywords to begin searching for sources. Some databases to search for journals and articles include:

• Your university’s library catalogue
• Google Scholar
• Project Muse (humanities and social sciences)
• Medline (life sciences and biomedicine)
• EconLit (economics)
• Inspec (physics, engineering and computer science)

You can use boolean operators to help narrow down your search:

Read the abstract to find out whether an article is relevant to your question. When you find a useful book or article, you can check the bibliography to find other relevant sources.

To identify the most important publications on your topic, take note of recurring citations. If the same authors, books or articles keep appearing in your reading, make sure to seek them out.

You probably won’t be able to read absolutely everything that has been written on the topic – you’ll have to evaluate which sources are most relevant to your questions.

For each publication, ask yourself:

• What question or problem is the author addressing?
• What are the key concepts and how are they defined?
• What are the key theories, models and methods? Does the research use established frameworks or take an innovative approach?
• What are the results and conclusions of the study?
• How does the publication relate to other literature in the field? Does it confirm, add to, or challenge established knowledge?
• How does the publication contribute to your understanding of the topic? What are its key insights and arguments?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the research?

Make sure the sources you use are credible, and make sure you read any landmark studies and major theories in your field of research.

You can find out how many times an article has been cited on Google Scholar – a high citation count means the article has been influential in the field, and should certainly be included in your literature review.

The scope of your review will depend on your topic and discipline: in the sciences you usually only review recent literature, but in the humanities you might take a long historical perspective (for example, to trace how a concept has changed in meaning over time).

Remember that you can use our template to summarise and evaluate sources you’re thinking about using!

Take notes and cite your sources

As you read, you should also begin the writing process. Take notes that you can later incorporate into the text of your literature review.

It’s important to keep track of your sources with references to avoid plagiarism . It can be helpful to make an annotated bibliography, where you compile full reference information and write a paragraph of summary and analysis for each source. This helps you remember what you read and saves time later in the process.

You can use our free APA Reference Generator for quick, correct, consistent citations.

To begin organising your literature review’s argument and structure, you need to understand the connections and relationships between the sources you’ve read. Based on your reading and notes, you can look for:

• Trends and patterns (in theory, method or results): do certain approaches become more or less popular over time?
• Themes: what questions or concepts recur across the literature?
• Debates, conflicts and contradictions: where do sources disagree?
• Pivotal publications: are there any influential theories or studies that changed the direction of the field?
• Gaps: what is missing from the literature? Are there weaknesses that need to be addressed?

This step will help you work out the structure of your literature review and (if applicable) show how your own research will contribute to existing knowledge.

• Most research has focused on young women.
• There is an increasing interest in the visual aspects of social media.
• But there is still a lack of robust research on highly-visual platforms like Instagram and Snapchat – this is a gap that you could address in your own research.

There are various approaches to organising the body of a literature review. You should have a rough idea of your strategy before you start writing.

Depending on the length of your literature review, you can combine several of these strategies (for example, your overall structure might be thematic, but each theme is discussed chronologically).

Chronological

The simplest approach is to trace the development of the topic over time. However, if you choose this strategy, be careful to avoid simply listing and summarising sources in order.

Try to analyse patterns, turning points and key debates that have shaped the direction of the field. Give your interpretation of how and why certain developments occurred.

If you have found some recurring central themes, you can organise your literature review into subsections that address different aspects of the topic.

For example, if you are reviewing literature about inequalities in migrant health outcomes, key themes might include healthcare policy, language barriers, cultural attitudes, legal status, and economic access.

Methodological

If you draw your sources from different disciplines or fields that use a variety of research methods , you might want to compare the results and conclusions that emerge from different approaches. For example:

• Look at what results have emerged in qualitative versus quantitative research
• Discuss how the topic has been approached by empirical versus theoretical scholarship
• Divide the literature into sociological, historical, and cultural sources

Theoretical

A literature review is often the foundation for a theoretical framework . You can use it to discuss various theories, models, and definitions of key concepts.

You might argue for the relevance of a specific theoretical approach, or combine various theoretical concepts to create a framework for your research.

Like any other academic text, your literature review should have an introduction , a main body, and a conclusion . What you include in each depends on the objective of your literature review.

The introduction should clearly establish the focus and purpose of the literature review.

If you are writing the literature review as part of your dissertation or thesis, reiterate your central problem or research question and give a brief summary of the scholarly context. You can emphasise the timeliness of the topic (“many recent studies have focused on the problem of x”) or highlight a gap in the literature (“while there has been much research on x, few researchers have taken y into consideration”).

Depending on the length of your literature review, you might want to divide the body into subsections. You can use a subheading for each theme, time period, or methodological approach.

As you write, make sure to follow these tips:

• Summarise and synthesise: give an overview of the main points of each source and combine them into a coherent whole.
• Analyse and interpret: don’t just paraphrase other researchers – add your own interpretations, discussing the significance of findings in relation to the literature as a whole.
• Critically evaluate: mention the strengths and weaknesses of your sources.
• Write in well-structured paragraphs: use transitions and topic sentences to draw connections, comparisons and contrasts.

In the conclusion, you should summarise the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasise their significance.

If the literature review is part of your dissertation or thesis, reiterate how your research addresses gaps and contributes new knowledge, or discuss how you have drawn on existing theories and methods to build a framework for your research. This can lead directly into your methodology section.

A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources (such as books, journal articles, and theses) related to a specific topic or research question .

It is often written as part of a dissertation , thesis, research paper , or proposal .

There are several reasons to conduct a literature review at the beginning of a research project:

• To familiarise yourself with the current state of knowledge on your topic
• To ensure that you’re not just repeating what others have already done
• To identify gaps in knowledge and unresolved problems that your research can address
• To develop your theoretical framework and methodology
• To provide an overview of the key findings and debates on the topic

Writing the literature review shows your reader how your work relates to existing research and what new insights it will contribute.

The literature review usually comes near the beginning of your  dissertation . After the introduction , it grounds your research in a scholarly field and leads directly to your theoretical framework or methodology .

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

McCombes, S. (2022, June 07). What is a Literature Review? | Guide, Template, & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 16 September 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/thesis-dissertation/literature-review/

Is this article helpful?

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Other students also liked, how to write a dissertation proposal | a step-by-step guide, what is a theoretical framework | a step-by-step guide, what is a research methodology | steps & tips.

Data Research for Labor Economics: Literature Review

• Developing Your Research Question
• Literature Review
• Data Discovery
• Data Sources
• Data Evaluation
• Data Citation

What is a literature review?

A literature review surveys scholarly articles, books, and other sources in a given field or sub-field, in order to provide an overview of the significant literature on a topic. The literature review might be a standalone paper, or it might be a chapter or section of your thesis or research paper on that topic. Your literature review should do the following: 

Summarize the literature in a given field

Evaluate the quality of evidence and strength of existing claims

Show how published works relate to one another

Place your work in the context of other research in a field

Typically, the literature review will combine both the summary and synthesis of the literature covered. It can provide an overview of the sources on your topic, and may also serve to show what, if any, literature  is missing on that topic.

Cornell University Library offers a useful guide called Demystifying the Literature Review which the details details the process into steps.

UCLA offers a self-paced Literature View Writing Workshop .

Questions to ask

Here are some questions to ask when you are trying to get a sense of the current scope of literature on your topic:

• What is the specific thesis, problem, or research question that my literature review helps to define
• What type of literature review am I conducting? Am I looking at issues of theory? methodology? policy? quantitative research (e.g. on the effectiveness of a new procedure)? qualitative research (e.g., studies of loneliness among migrant workers)?
• What is the scope of my literature review? 
• What types of publications am I using (e.g., journals, books, government documents, popular media)?
• What discipline am I working in (e.g., nursing psychology, sociology, medicine)?
• How good was my information seeking? Has my search been wide enough to ensure I’ve found all the relevant material? Has it been narrow enough to exclude irrelevant material? Is the number of sources I’ve used appropriate for the length of my paper?
• Have I critically analyzed the literature I use? Do I follow through a set of concepts and questions, comparing items to each other in the ways they deal with them? Instead of just listing and summarizing items, do I assess them, discussing strengths and weaknesses?
• Have I cited and discussed studies contrary to my perspective?
• Will the reader find my literature review relevant, appropriate, and useful?

Citation: Taylor, D. (n.d.). The literature review: A few tips on conducting it. Writing Advice; University of Toronto. Retrieved March 25, 2022, from https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/types-of-writing/literature-review/

Select a topic and develop your argument

• Select your topic based on your interest and available scholarly literature
• Consult with your mentor – seminal papers on the topic?
• Define what you WILL include in your research
• Constrain your topic by defining what you WILL NOT include in your research
• Remember Goldilocks – you want your topic scope to be just right, not too big, not too small
• Map out the claims in the literature – there may be multiple
• What is the data and its relevance?
• Is there enough strength for what is being claimed?
• Where are the gaps in the literature?
• Where are the connections?

Developing your search strategy and methodology

You can build a protocol for your literature review and search process before starting. Take a look at this c hecklist developed by the Cornell Library Evidence Synthesis Service to walk you through this process. The checklist is available as a pdf. 

Elements of a Literature Review

A literature review, whether stand-alone or part of a larger paper, should have the following elements:

• An overview of the topic or issue that you are discussing (this may be in another section of your paper if you are not writing a standalone literature review.)
• A summary of each work covered
• An explanation of how each work fits into the body of literature on the topic (or doesn't), critical evaluation, and a discussion of how it synthesizes with the other works you are discussing.
• A discussion of what topics or sub-topics are missing from the literature

Searching for sources

Here are some helpful tips for searching for sources for your literature review:

• Start with broad searches and then narrow/zoom in, especially if this is your first time researching this topic
• Identify core concepts and keywords for your topic. This will help you develop your search strings for database searches.

Follow a few basic steps to locate sources:

• Utilize encyclopedias, textbooks, and seminal articles in the field (if you know of any) to get background info.
• Search your library catalog for books and journals on your subject.
• When you have the full citation, you can search for journal articles using the library catalog (to search for the journal title) or your library's articles and full-text search functions. Google Scholar is also helpful for known item searching - make sure that you link Google Scholar to your library resources.
• When you don't have the full citation for a journal article, you can still find them through your library - use databases! You can start with our generalized database search, or go straight to a subject-specific database to do some keyword searching.

You can also utilize existing bibliographies and literature reviews to find sources for your project. 

• Read the background information and note any useful sources (books, journals, magazines, etc.) listed in the bibliography at the end of the encyclopedia article, dictionary entry, or journal article you read. The sources cited in the bibliography are good starting points for further research.
• Look up these sources in our catalogs and periodical databases. Check the subject headings listed in the subject field of the online record for these books and articles. Then do subject searches using those subject headings to locate additional titles.
• Remember that many of the books and articles you find will themselves have bibliographies. Check these bibliographies for additional useful resources for your research.
• By using this technique of routinely following up on sources cited in bibliographies, you can generate a surprisingly large number of books and articles on your topic in a relatively short time. If you can find the seminal article or articles in your field, it will make it that much easier to get a sense of the scope and context of the existing literature!
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What is a Literature Review

A literature review is a survey of everything that has been written about a particular topic, theory, or research question. It may provide the background for larger work, or it may stand on its own. Much more than a simple list of sources, an effective literature review analyzes and synthesizes information about key themes or issues.

Why write a literature review?

• To discover what has been written about a topic already.
• To determine what each source contributes to the topic.
• To understand the relationship between the various contributions, identify and (if possible) resolve contradictions, and determine gaps or unanswered questions.
• Printer Friendly: What is a Lit Review?

What's Involved?

Research  to discover what has been written about the topic.

Critical Appraisal  to evaluate the literature, determine the relationship between the sources and ascertain what has been done already and what still needs to be done.

Writing  to explain what you have found.

Focus on Writing

Introduction

The introduction should identify your topic, some discussion of the significance of that topic and a thesis statement that outlines what conclusion you will draw from your analysis and synthesis of the literature. If your literature review is part of a larger work, explain the importance of the review to your research question.

In the body, discuss and assess the research according to specific organizational principles (see examples below), rather than addressing each source separately. Most, if not all, paragraphs should discuss more than one source. Avoid addressing your sources alphabetically as this does not assist in developing the themes or key issues central to your review.

The conclusion should provide a summary of YOUR findings from the literature review. Explain what your analysis of the material leads you to conclude about the overall state of the literature, what it provides and where it is lacking. You can also provide suggestions for future research or explain how your future research will fill the gaps in the existing body of work on that topic.

© Allyson Skene. The Writing Centre, University of Toronto at Scarborough. See terms and conditions for use at http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~ctl/twc/terms.htm

Research & Evaluate

Gather sources

• Focus your topic : A literature review aims to cover all of the research on a given topic. If the topic is too large, there will be too much material.
• Read with a purpose : Although you will need to briefly summarize sources, a good literature review requires that you isolate key themes or issues related to your own research interests.

Evaluate sources

For each source, consider: 

• Credentials : Is the author an expert? 
• Argument/Evidence : Does the evidence support the conclusion? Is the argument or evidence complete?

When comparing sources, consider: 

• Conclusions : Does all research arrive at the same conclusion or are there differing opinions? What evidence or reasoning are the differences based on? 
• Gaps or omissions : What questions are raised by the literature?

Ways to Organize your Literature Review

Organize by Theme

Use it when explaining key themes or issues relevant to the topic. This is the most common way to organize literature reviews.

A literature review of 31 relevant articles published between January 1999 and March 2004 identified 12 categories of neighborhood characteristics relevant to maternal and child health: income/wealth, employment, family structure, population composition, housing, mobility, education, occupation, social resources, violence and crime, deviant behavior and physical conditions.

[Example adapted from Rajaratnama, J.K., Burke, J.G. & O’Campo, P. (2006). Maternal and child health and neighborhood context: The selection and construction of area-level variables.  Health and Place, 12 , 547-556.]

Organize by Methodology  (also called a methodology review)

When discussing interdisciplinary approaches to a topic or when discussing a number of studies with a different approach.

In dentistry, fluorescent imaging been used for many applications revealing a variety of information about bonded restorations. This review evaluates the different methods used in this area with the intent of determining if standardized methodologies exist.

[Example   adapted   from   D’ Alpino,   P .H.P.   et   al   (2006).Use   of   fluorescent   compounds in assessing bonded resin-based restorations: A literature review  Journal of Dentistry ,  34  623-634.]

Organize by Chronology

When historical changes are central to explaining the topic.

A literature review is presented on the evolution of water pollution management and its impact on land pollution from 1900 to 2000 within a hypothesis of whether we could have done more, sooner. Stream pollution science in the context of the fundamental sanitary engineering concepts of reasonable use and assimilative capacity is examined in light of evolving regulatory frameworks from the early 1900s, when regulation and standards were mostly lacking, to the zero discharge goals and comprehensive federal command/control regulations of the late 20 th  century.

[Example adapted from Shrifin, N.S. (2005). Pollution Management in the Twentieth Century.  Journal of Environmental Engineering, 131 , 676-691.]

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Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper

• 5. The Literature Review
• Purpose of Guide
• Design Flaws to Avoid
• Independent and Dependent Variables
• Glossary of Research Terms
• Reading Research Effectively
• Narrowing a Topic Idea
• Broadening a Topic Idea
• Extending the Timeliness of a Topic Idea
• Academic Writing Style
• Applying Critical Thinking
• Choosing a Title
• Making an Outline
• Paragraph Development
• Research Process Video Series
• Executive Summary
• The C.A.R.S. Model
• Background Information
• The Research Problem/Question
• Theoretical Framework
• Citation Tracking
• Content Alert Services
• Evaluating Sources
• Primary Sources
• Secondary Sources
• Tiertiary Sources
• Scholarly vs. Popular Publications
• Qualitative Methods
• Quantitative Methods
• Insiderness
• Using Non-Textual Elements
• Limitations of the Study
• Common Grammar Mistakes
• Writing Concisely
• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Footnotes or Endnotes?
• Further Readings
• Generative AI and Writing
• USC Libraries Tutorials and Other Guides
• Bibliography

A literature review surveys prior research published in books, scholarly articles, and any other sources relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory, and by so doing, provides a description, summary, and critical evaluation of these works in relation to the research problem being investigated. Literature reviews are designed to provide an overview of sources you have used in researching a particular topic and to demonstrate to your readers how your research fits within existing scholarship about the topic.

Fink, Arlene. Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From the Internet to Paper . Fourth edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2014.

Importance of a Good Literature Review

A literature review may consist of simply a summary of key sources, but in the social sciences, a literature review usually has an organizational pattern and combines both summary and synthesis, often within specific conceptual categories . A summary is a recap of the important information of the source, but a synthesis is a re-organization, or a reshuffling, of that information in a way that informs how you are planning to investigate a research problem. The analytical features of a literature review might:

• Give a new interpretation of old material or combine new with old interpretations,
• Trace the intellectual progression of the field, including major debates,
• Depending on the situation, evaluate the sources and advise the reader on the most pertinent or relevant research, or
• Usually in the conclusion of a literature review, identify where gaps exist in how a problem has been researched to date.

Given this, the purpose of a literature review is to:

• Place each work in the context of its contribution to understanding the research problem being studied.
• Describe the relationship of each work to the others under consideration.
• Identify new ways to interpret prior research.
• Reveal any gaps that exist in the literature.
• Resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictory previous studies.
• Identify areas of prior scholarship to prevent duplication of effort.
• Point the way in fulfilling a need for additional research.
• Locate your own research within the context of existing literature [very important].

Fink, Arlene. Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From the Internet to Paper. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2005; Hart, Chris. Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1998; Jesson, Jill. Doing Your Literature Review: Traditional and Systematic Techniques . Los Angeles, CA: SAGE, 2011; Knopf, Jeffrey W. "Doing a Literature Review." PS: Political Science and Politics 39 (January 2006): 127-132; Ridley, Diana. The Literature Review: A Step-by-Step Guide for Students . 2nd ed. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE, 2012.

Types of Literature Reviews

It is important to think of knowledge in a given field as consisting of three layers. First, there are the primary studies that researchers conduct and publish. Second are the reviews of those studies that summarize and offer new interpretations built from and often extending beyond the primary studies. Third, there are the perceptions, conclusions, opinion, and interpretations that are shared informally among scholars that become part of the body of epistemological traditions within the field.

In composing a literature review, it is important to note that it is often this third layer of knowledge that is cited as "true" even though it often has only a loose relationship to the primary studies and secondary literature reviews. Given this, while literature reviews are designed to provide an overview and synthesis of pertinent sources you have explored, there are a number of approaches you could adopt depending upon the type of analysis underpinning your study.

Argumentative Review This form examines literature selectively in order to support or refute an argument, deeply embedded assumption, or philosophical problem already established in the literature. The purpose is to develop a body of literature that establishes a contrarian viewpoint. Given the value-laden nature of some social science research [e.g., educational reform; immigration control], argumentative approaches to analyzing the literature can be a legitimate and important form of discourse. However, note that they can also introduce problems of bias when they are used to make summary claims of the sort found in systematic reviews [see below].

Integrative Review Considered a form of research that reviews, critiques, and synthesizes representative literature on a topic in an integrated way such that new frameworks and perspectives on the topic are generated. The body of literature includes all studies that address related or identical hypotheses or research problems. A well-done integrative review meets the same standards as primary research in regard to clarity, rigor, and replication. This is the most common form of review in the social sciences.

Historical Review Few things rest in isolation from historical precedent. Historical literature reviews focus on examining research throughout a period of time, often starting with the first time an issue, concept, theory, phenomena emerged in the literature, then tracing its evolution within the scholarship of a discipline. The purpose is to place research in a historical context to show familiarity with state-of-the-art developments and to identify the likely directions for future research.

Methodological Review A review does not always focus on what someone said [findings], but how they came about saying what they say [method of analysis]. Reviewing methods of analysis provides a framework of understanding at different levels [i.e. those of theory, substantive fields, research approaches, and data collection and analysis techniques], how researchers draw upon a wide variety of knowledge ranging from the conceptual level to practical documents for use in fieldwork in the areas of ontological and epistemological consideration, quantitative and qualitative integration, sampling, interviewing, data collection, and data analysis. This approach helps highlight ethical issues which you should be aware of and consider as you go through your own study.

Systematic Review This form consists of an overview of existing evidence pertinent to a clearly formulated research question, which uses pre-specified and standardized methods to identify and critically appraise relevant research, and to collect, report, and analyze data from the studies that are included in the review. The goal is to deliberately document, critically evaluate, and summarize scientifically all of the research about a clearly defined research problem . Typically it focuses on a very specific empirical question, often posed in a cause-and-effect form, such as "To what extent does A contribute to B?" This type of literature review is primarily applied to examining prior research studies in clinical medicine and allied health fields, but it is increasingly being used in the social sciences.

Theoretical Review The purpose of this form is to examine the corpus of theory that has accumulated in regard to an issue, concept, theory, phenomena. The theoretical literature review helps to establish what theories already exist, the relationships between them, to what degree the existing theories have been investigated, and to develop new hypotheses to be tested. Often this form is used to help establish a lack of appropriate theories or reveal that current theories are inadequate for explaining new or emerging research problems. The unit of analysis can focus on a theoretical concept or a whole theory or framework.

NOTE: Most often the literature review will incorporate some combination of types. For example, a review that examines literature supporting or refuting an argument, assumption, or philosophical problem related to the research problem will also need to include writing supported by sources that establish the history of these arguments in the literature.

Baumeister, Roy F. and Mark R. Leary. "Writing Narrative Literature Reviews."  Review of General Psychology 1 (September 1997): 311-320; Mark R. Fink, Arlene. Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From the Internet to Paper . 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2005; Hart, Chris. Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1998; Kennedy, Mary M. "Defining a Literature." Educational Researcher 36 (April 2007): 139-147; Petticrew, Mark and Helen Roberts. Systematic Reviews in the Social Sciences: A Practical Guide . Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2006; Torracro, Richard. "Writing Integrative Literature Reviews: Guidelines and Examples." Human Resource Development Review 4 (September 2005): 356-367; Rocco, Tonette S. and Maria S. Plakhotnik. "Literature Reviews, Conceptual Frameworks, and Theoretical Frameworks: Terms, Functions, and Distinctions." Human Ressource Development Review 8 (March 2008): 120-130; Sutton, Anthea. Systematic Approaches to a Successful Literature Review . Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications, 2016.

Structure and Writing Style

I.  Thinking About Your Literature Review

The structure of a literature review should include the following in support of understanding the research problem :

• An overview of the subject, issue, or theory under consideration, along with the objectives of the literature review,
• Division of works under review into themes or categories [e.g. works that support a particular position, those against, and those offering alternative approaches entirely],
• An explanation of how each work is similar to and how it varies from the others,
• Conclusions as to which pieces are best considered in their argument, are most convincing of their opinions, and make the greatest contribution to the understanding and development of their area of research.

The critical evaluation of each work should consider :

• Provenance -- what are the author's credentials? Are the author's arguments supported by evidence [e.g. primary historical material, case studies, narratives, statistics, recent scientific findings]?
• Methodology -- were the techniques used to identify, gather, and analyze the data appropriate to addressing the research problem? Was the sample size appropriate? Were the results effectively interpreted and reported?
• Objectivity -- is the author's perspective even-handed or prejudicial? Is contrary data considered or is certain pertinent information ignored to prove the author's point?
• Persuasiveness -- which of the author's theses are most convincing or least convincing?
• Validity -- are the author's arguments and conclusions convincing? Does the work ultimately contribute in any significant way to an understanding of the subject?

II.  Development of the Literature Review

Four Basic Stages of Writing 1.  Problem formulation -- which topic or field is being examined and what are its component issues? 2.  Literature search -- finding materials relevant to the subject being explored. 3.  Data evaluation -- determining which literature makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the topic. 4.  Analysis and interpretation -- discussing the findings and conclusions of pertinent literature.

Consider the following issues before writing the literature review: Clarify If your assignment is not specific about what form your literature review should take, seek clarification from your professor by asking these questions: 1.  Roughly how many sources would be appropriate to include? 2.  What types of sources should I review (books, journal articles, websites; scholarly versus popular sources)? 3.  Should I summarize, synthesize, or critique sources by discussing a common theme or issue? 4.  Should I evaluate the sources in any way beyond evaluating how they relate to understanding the research problem? 5.  Should I provide subheadings and other background information, such as definitions and/or a history? Find Models Use the exercise of reviewing the literature to examine how authors in your discipline or area of interest have composed their literature review sections. Read them to get a sense of the types of themes you might want to look for in your own research or to identify ways to organize your final review. The bibliography or reference section of sources you've already read, such as required readings in the course syllabus, are also excellent entry points into your own research. Narrow the Topic The narrower your topic, the easier it will be to limit the number of sources you need to read in order to obtain a good survey of relevant resources. Your professor will probably not expect you to read everything that's available about the topic, but you'll make the act of reviewing easier if you first limit scope of the research problem. A good strategy is to begin by searching the USC Libraries Catalog for recent books about the topic and review the table of contents for chapters that focuses on specific issues. You can also review the indexes of books to find references to specific issues that can serve as the focus of your research. For example, a book surveying the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict may include a chapter on the role Egypt has played in mediating the conflict, or look in the index for the pages where Egypt is mentioned in the text. Consider Whether Your Sources are Current Some disciplines require that you use information that is as current as possible. This is particularly true in disciplines in medicine and the sciences where research conducted becomes obsolete very quickly as new discoveries are made. However, when writing a review in the social sciences, a survey of the history of the literature may be required. In other words, a complete understanding the research problem requires you to deliberately examine how knowledge and perspectives have changed over time. Sort through other current bibliographies or literature reviews in the field to get a sense of what your discipline expects. You can also use this method to explore what is considered by scholars to be a "hot topic" and what is not.

III.  Ways to Organize Your Literature Review

Chronology of Events If your review follows the chronological method, you could write about the materials according to when they were published. This approach should only be followed if a clear path of research building on previous research can be identified and that these trends follow a clear chronological order of development. For example, a literature review that focuses on continuing research about the emergence of German economic power after the fall of the Soviet Union. By Publication Order your sources by publication chronology, then, only if the order demonstrates a more important trend. For instance, you could order a review of literature on environmental studies of brown fields if the progression revealed, for example, a change in the soil collection practices of the researchers who wrote and/or conducted the studies. Thematic [“conceptual categories”] A thematic literature review is the most common approach to summarizing prior research in the social and behavioral sciences. Thematic reviews are organized around a topic or issue, rather than the progression of time, although the progression of time may still be incorporated into a thematic review. For example, a review of the Internet’s impact on American presidential politics could focus on the development of online political satire. While the study focuses on one topic, the Internet’s impact on American presidential politics, it would still be organized chronologically reflecting technological developments in media. The difference in this example between a "chronological" and a "thematic" approach is what is emphasized the most: themes related to the role of the Internet in presidential politics. Note that more authentic thematic reviews tend to break away from chronological order. A review organized in this manner would shift between time periods within each section according to the point being made. Methodological A methodological approach focuses on the methods utilized by the researcher. For the Internet in American presidential politics project, one methodological approach would be to look at cultural differences between the portrayal of American presidents on American, British, and French websites. Or the review might focus on the fundraising impact of the Internet on a particular political party. A methodological scope will influence either the types of documents in the review or the way in which these documents are discussed.

Other Sections of Your Literature Review Once you've decided on the organizational method for your literature review, the sections you need to include in the paper should be easy to figure out because they arise from your organizational strategy. In other words, a chronological review would have subsections for each vital time period; a thematic review would have subtopics based upon factors that relate to the theme or issue. However, sometimes you may need to add additional sections that are necessary for your study, but do not fit in the organizational strategy of the body. What other sections you include in the body is up to you. However, only include what is necessary for the reader to locate your study within the larger scholarship about the research problem.

Here are examples of other sections, usually in the form of a single paragraph, you may need to include depending on the type of review you write:

• Current Situation : Information necessary to understand the current topic or focus of the literature review.
• Sources Used : Describes the methods and resources [e.g., databases] you used to identify the literature you reviewed.
• History : The chronological progression of the field, the research literature, or an idea that is necessary to understand the literature review, if the body of the literature review is not already a chronology.
• Selection Methods : Criteria you used to select (and perhaps exclude) sources in your literature review. For instance, you might explain that your review includes only peer-reviewed [i.e., scholarly] sources.
• Standards : Description of the way in which you present your information.
• Questions for Further Research : What questions about the field has the review sparked? How will you further your research as a result of the review?

IV.  Writing Your Literature Review

Once you've settled on how to organize your literature review, you're ready to write each section. When writing your review, keep in mind these issues.

Use Evidence A literature review section is, in this sense, just like any other academic research paper. Your interpretation of the available sources must be backed up with evidence [citations] that demonstrates that what you are saying is valid. Be Selective Select only the most important points in each source to highlight in the review. The type of information you choose to mention should relate directly to the research problem, whether it is thematic, methodological, or chronological. Related items that provide additional information, but that are not key to understanding the research problem, can be included in a list of further readings . Use Quotes Sparingly Some short quotes are appropriate if you want to emphasize a point, or if what an author stated cannot be easily paraphrased. Sometimes you may need to quote certain terminology that was coined by the author, is not common knowledge, or taken directly from the study. Do not use extensive quotes as a substitute for using your own words in reviewing the literature. Summarize and Synthesize Remember to summarize and synthesize your sources within each thematic paragraph as well as throughout the review. Recapitulate important features of a research study, but then synthesize it by rephrasing the study's significance and relating it to your own work and the work of others. Keep Your Own Voice While the literature review presents others' ideas, your voice [the writer's] should remain front and center. For example, weave references to other sources into what you are writing but maintain your own voice by starting and ending the paragraph with your own ideas and wording. Use Caution When Paraphrasing When paraphrasing a source that is not your own, be sure to represent the author's information or opinions accurately and in your own words. Even when paraphrasing an author’s work, you still must provide a citation to that work.

V.  Common Mistakes to Avoid

These are the most common mistakes made in reviewing social science research literature.

• Sources in your literature review do not clearly relate to the research problem;
• You do not take sufficient time to define and identify the most relevant sources to use in the literature review related to the research problem;
• Relies exclusively on secondary analytical sources rather than including relevant primary research studies or data;
• Uncritically accepts another researcher's findings and interpretations as valid, rather than examining critically all aspects of the research design and analysis;
• Does not describe the search procedures that were used in identifying the literature to review;
• Reports isolated statistical results rather than synthesizing them in chi-squared or meta-analytic methods; and,
• Only includes research that validates assumptions and does not consider contrary findings and alternative interpretations found in the literature.

Cook, Kathleen E. and Elise Murowchick. “Do Literature Review Skills Transfer from One Course to Another?” Psychology Learning and Teaching 13 (March 2014): 3-11; Fink, Arlene. Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From the Internet to Paper . 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2005; Hart, Chris. Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1998; Jesson, Jill. Doing Your Literature Review: Traditional and Systematic Techniques . London: SAGE, 2011; Literature Review Handout. Online Writing Center. Liberty University; Literature Reviews. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J. and Rebecca Frels. Seven Steps to a Comprehensive Literature Review: A Multimodal and Cultural Approach . Los Angeles, CA: SAGE, 2016; Ridley, Diana. The Literature Review: A Step-by-Step Guide for Students . 2nd ed. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE, 2012; Randolph, Justus J. “A Guide to Writing the Dissertation Literature Review." Practical Assessment, Research, and Evaluation. vol. 14, June 2009; Sutton, Anthea. Systematic Approaches to a Successful Literature Review . Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications, 2016; Taylor, Dena. The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Writing a Literature Review. Academic Skills Centre. University of Canberra.

Writing Tip

Break Out of Your Disciplinary Box!

Thinking interdisciplinarily about a research problem can be a rewarding exercise in applying new ideas, theories, or concepts to an old problem. For example, what might cultural anthropologists say about the continuing conflict in the Middle East? In what ways might geographers view the need for better distribution of social service agencies in large cities than how social workers might study the issue? You don’t want to substitute a thorough review of core research literature in your discipline for studies conducted in other fields of study. However, particularly in the social sciences, thinking about research problems from multiple vectors is a key strategy for finding new solutions to a problem or gaining a new perspective. Consult with a librarian about identifying research databases in other disciplines; almost every field of study has at least one comprehensive database devoted to indexing its research literature.

Frodeman, Robert. The Oxford Handbook of Interdisciplinarity . New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Another Writing Tip

Don't Just Review for Content!

While conducting a review of the literature, maximize the time you devote to writing this part of your paper by thinking broadly about what you should be looking for and evaluating. Review not just what scholars are saying, but how are they saying it. Some questions to ask:

• How are they organizing their ideas?
• What methods have they used to study the problem?
• What theories have been used to explain, predict, or understand their research problem?
• What sources have they cited to support their conclusions?
• How have they used non-textual elements [e.g., charts, graphs, figures, etc.] to illustrate key points?

When you begin to write your literature review section, you'll be glad you dug deeper into how the research was designed and constructed because it establishes a means for developing more substantial analysis and interpretation of the research problem.

Hart, Chris. Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1 998.

Yet Another Writing Tip

When Do I Know I Can Stop Looking and Move On?

Here are several strategies you can utilize to assess whether you've thoroughly reviewed the literature:

• Look for repeating patterns in the research findings . If the same thing is being said, just by different people, then this likely demonstrates that the research problem has hit a conceptual dead end. At this point consider: Does your study extend current research?  Does it forge a new path? Or, does is merely add more of the same thing being said?
• Look at sources the authors cite to in their work . If you begin to see the same researchers cited again and again, then this is often an indication that no new ideas have been generated to address the research problem.
• Search Google Scholar to identify who has subsequently cited leading scholars already identified in your literature review [see next sub-tab]. This is called citation tracking and there are a number of sources that can help you identify who has cited whom, particularly scholars from outside of your discipline. Here again, if the same authors are being cited again and again, this may indicate no new literature has been written on the topic.

Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J. and Rebecca Frels. Seven Steps to a Comprehensive Literature Review: A Multimodal and Cultural Approach . Los Angeles, CA: Sage, 2016; Sutton, Anthea. Systematic Approaches to a Successful Literature Review . Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications, 2016.

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Assessing the agricultural trade narrative of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor: a systematic review of the past decade (2013–2023)

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• Published: 10 September 2024
• Volume 2 , article number  51 , ( 2024 )

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• Humayun Khan 1 &
• Mumah Edwin 1  

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The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a cornerstone of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It aims to enhance regional trade and economic expansion in Pakistan. We adopted systematic review approach to investigate the agricultural trade narrative of the CPEC and identify future research avenues. Our study uses the Web of Sciences and Scopus database to extract the relevant literature. We executed the search query for 2013–2023. We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) statement to identify the literature. The final analysis includes only 14 articles. We found that the literature mainly focuses on three topics, Gwadar port, road infrastructure, and agricultural complementarity and competitiveness. The review reveals the significant potential of CPEC on the agricultural trade of Pakistan. Based on the review, we point to avenues that could be considered in future research work to fully exploit the potential of CPEC in the agriculture sector of Pakistan.

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1 Introduction

The mega project known as China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) aims at regional connectivity, and infrastructural development leading to economic prosperity. As the pioneering project of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), CPEC has attracted vast interest and aroused substantial debates about its impact on various sectors. In this systematic review paper, we focus on the potential role of CPEC in the agricultural trade dynamics of Pakistan. The agriculture sector is of immense importance for both China and Pakistan. It serves as the backbone of Pakistan’s economy, contributing significantly to the country’s GDP and providing substantial employment [ 1 , 2 ]. China as the world's most populated country also depends on its agriculture sector to feed its huge population [ 3 ]. The necessity of this study stems from the significant role agriculture plays in Pakistan's economy and the transformative potential of CPEC in reshaping trade dynamics. As agriculture remains a major GDP contributor and employment source of Pakistan, understanding how CPEC can enhance agricultural trade is vital for policy formulation and economic planning. Moreover, the study addresses a gap in the existing literature, which has largely overlooked the detailed implications of CPEC on agriculture.

The history of the diplomatic relationship between China and Pakistan can be traced back to 1949. However, the relationship got stronger after President Xi Jinping visited Pakistan and signed the game-changer project “CPEC” in 2015 initiated earlier in 2013. President Xi’s statement, “I feel as if I am going to visit my brother's house” marked a new era and launched CPEC with an initial investment of 46 billion US dollars. The project was divided into three phases and the total projected investment rose to 62 billion US dollars. The first phase which is known as the short-term phase covers the period from 2015 to 2022, primarily focuses on the road infrastructural development, port development, and energy sector. The second phase called the medium-term phase span 2021–2025. The second phase focuses on the development of the industrial sector, agricultural sector, and socio-economic development. The third phase of CPEC, from 2026 to 2030, focuses on the development of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and industrial build-up. In the long term, CPEC is striving to make Pakistan a regional economic hub by 2030.

Since effective inland and cross-border trade requires a well-developed transportation infrastructure, CPEC will enhance the existing road network of Pakistan with an additional 3000 KM in the form of expressways, highways, and motorways [ 4 ]. The 2688 KM CPEC road, which runs from Gwadar to Khunjarab Pass is designed to be traveled with 70 to 120 KM/hour, reducing the distance up to 80 percent as compared to the sea route [ 5 , 6 , 7 ]. Reshaping the transport infrastructure will open new avenues for Pakistan's agriculture trade, particularly in the trade of perishable agricultural products such as vegetables and fruits. In addition to allowing Pakistan enormous economic prospects CPEC also links China to the markets of Europe, Asia, and other regions [ 8 ].

CPEC, since its inception, attracted much research and debate [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ]. The existing literature is useful, but a vast number of it focuses on the global and regional economic impact of CPEC, its geopolitical position, and the challenges faced by CPEC [ 8 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. Few researchers discuss the CPEC-agriculture nexus [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ] or limited to a specific area [ 21 ]. Moreover, these studies also overlook the commodity-specific agricultural trade of Pakistan.

The year 2023 celebrates the 10th anniversary of CPEC. Hence, it is appropriate time to provide a systematic review of the potential impact of CPEC on the agricultural trade dynamics of Pakistan. More specifically, this systematic review attempts to explore the likely impact of CPEC on Pakistan’s agricultural trade based on studies over the past decade.

The knowledge of the existing literature body will be nourished by this study in several ways. To our knowledge, this is the first systematic review that covers the previous literature on CPEC over the last decade. Based on the findings, this study will identify the drivers leading to the trade deficit of agriculture. This study will explore how CPEC potentially impacts the agricultural trade of Pakistan. Further, this study will also identify the gaps in the current research which could be potential opportunities for further research on CPEC and agricultural trade nexus.

The rest of this article is structured as follows. Section  2 provides a comprehensive insight into the methodology followed for conducting this systematic review. Section  3 presents the results. Section  4 provides inclusive discussion. Section  5 offers future research directions and in Section  6 we concisely conclude this study.

2 Materials and methods

This section offers a comprehensive piece of information on the methodology followed in this systematic review.

In this study, we follow the article selection and retrieving technique developed by [ 22 , 23 ]. For transparency and robust observations, this study followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis [ 24 ]. The systematic review method is suitable for this study as it allows for a thorough examination of existing literature, identifying trends, gaps, and insights that are critical for understanding CPEC's impact on agricultural trade. This method provides a structured approach to synthesize findings from diverse sources, offering a comprehensive overview of the subject.

2.1 Literature search and database selection

A comprehensive literature search was executed to identify relevant literature. The search was performed from 2013 to 2023. This timeframe is chosen to encompass the inception (2013) and development phases of CPEC, capturing relevant studies on its impact. Among the scholarly databases Scopus and Web of Sciences (WOS) are considered more reliable due to their vast coverage [ 25 , 26 ]. Hence, this systematic review preferred Scopus and WOS databases for the collection of literature. To avoid the bias created from the machine translation and understanding of studies in languages, the search was limited only to the publications in English language. We include only articles that were finally published. This study focuses on the CPEC and agriculture trade nexus, however, CPEC as a corridor among the six corridors of the Belt and Road Initiative also appears in the studies that are not titled CPEC. All the alternative synonyms or terms that are used interchangeably with CPEC were considered while developing the search string to avoid ignoring any informative and relevant study.

2.2 Search string development

The Scopus syntax TITLE-ABS-KEY (….) produces the search appearing in the title, abstract, and keywords of a study. The Boolean operatives OR, and AND were used to extend the coverage of string. After practicing with multiple term, this study eventually produced a very comprehensive string with keywords such as “TITLE-ABS-KEY ("China Pakistan Economic Corridor" OR "China Pakistan Economic Corridor" OR CPEC OR OBOR OR BRI OR "Belt and Road" OR "silk road" OR "new silk route" OR "CPEC impact on agri*") AND (trade OR "agriculture trade" OR "agri* trade" OR "agricultural exports" OR agri* AND exports OR "crop trade" OR "bilateral agri* trade" OR "vegetab* trade" OR "fruit* trade") AND PUBYEAR  >  2012 AND PUBYEAR  <  2024” . The string generated a total number of 1023 results.

Likewise, the Web of Sciences (WOS) string ( TS  =  (("China Pakistan Economic Corridor" OR "China-Pakistan Economic Corridor" OR "CPEC" OR "OBOR" OR "BRI" OR "Belt and Road" OR "silk road" OR "new silk route" OR "CPEC impact on agri*") AND ("trade" OR "agriculture trade" OR "agri* trade" OR "agricultural exports" OR "agri* exports" OR "crop trade" OR "bilateral agri* trade" OR "vegetab* trade" OR "fruit* trade"))) produced 1468 results.

2.3 Screening

All the results were exported and stored in an Excel spreadsheet for further analysis, which included reviewing studies conducted by the two reviewers. The results obtained from both databases were merged into a single Excel spreadsheet. We included and reviewed only those studies that is somewhat related to the CPEC and agricultural trade of Pakistan.

While initially handling the Excel spreadsheet, we identified 362 duplicate publications resulting from the merging of two databases. A total of 2129 studies were retained  in the Excel spreadsheet for further screening. Subsequently, based on the title, abstract, and keywords 1976 studies were excluded from our database as they did not fall within the scope of this study. The full texts of the remaining 153 studies were rigorously screened. We found that many of the selected studies focused on the geopolitics, and challenges related to CPEC, related to the core project of the Belt and Road Initiative, but their study areas were not aligned with the focus of this systematic review. Hence, more 109 studies were eliminated from the created database. A total of 44 studies were selected for the eligibility of inclusion.

2.4 Eligibility check

The full text of the 44 studies were thoroughly reviewed for eligibility. We found that some studies were broadly focused on the BRI or focused on the energy sector, were related to other countries or regions or the full text were not available. Hence, 30 studies were eliminated from the database during the eligibility check. Only 14 studies passed the eligibility check and were included in this systematic review. The PRISMA flow chart in Fig.  1 presents the detailed steps carried out for the inclusion of these studies.

PRISMA chart of the article’s selection process

The section covers a descriptive analysis, journal and geographical scope, keywords analysis, and presents a summary of the key findings from the included literature.

The literature related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is still new and the studies included in this paper have been published between 2018 and 2023. This is justifiable when considering the timeline and the publication process, especially in peer-reviewed reputed journals. Figure  2 presents the the publication statistics considered in this systematic review. The increasing trend suggests growing interest and engagement within the research community. Since, the inception of CPEC, as discussed earlier most focus was on its geopolitical aspects and challenges confronted, however, we see a shift of interest toward the agriculture sector as the CPEC enters into its second phase which also includes agricultural cooperation. The maximum number of studies were observed in 2022.

Year-wise distribution of articles included in the review

The journal distribution of the selected 14 studies is given in Table  1 . The journal’s distribution according to ID frequency provides information on the academic contribution of each journal. The MDPI’s “Agriculture” [ 17 , 27 ] and Routledge’s “Eurasian Geography and Economics” [ 21 , 28 ] each have two appearances in the included studies. There are other journals that each have their position only with one occurrence. These include PLosOne [ 29 ], Journal of Transport Geography [ 30 ], Journal of Advance Transportation [ 31 ], Mobile Information System [ 32 ], Foods [ 33 ], International Journal of Technological Learning, Innovation and Development [ 34 ], Chinese Political Science Review [ 35 ], Contemporary South Asia [ 36 ], China Quarterly of International Strategic Studies [ 15 ], and International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy [ 37 ]. The individual representation of journals from World Scientific Publishing Co., Wiley, Hindawi, Springer, Elsevier, Routledge, Econjouranls, MDPI, and Inderscience Publishers also highlights the wide range of journals that contribute to this extracted sample of studies.

The geographical distribution of the articles included in this study is presented in Fig.  3 . Of the 14 studies six studies were conducted in China, which is about 42 percent of the study sample. Four studies were conducted in Pakistan which is 28 percent of the study sample. Two studies were carried out in the UK which occupy 14 percent of the total studies included, while the other researches were carried out in Hong Kong (China), and Germany.

Geographical distribution of articles

The author’s keywords co-occurrence is presented in Fig.  4 . The keyword co-occurrence network visualization is a useful tool for understanding the interconnection between different articles. In this study, we use VOSViewer to visualize the author's keywords co-occurrence. The larger nodes represent the frequent co-occurrence while the thickness of the edges explains the stronger association. Based on the keywords co-occurrence we observe that the chosen literature is not centered on a specific area but covers various aspects of the CPEC. We also observed that the agriculture sector, especially agricultural trade received minimal attention. Based on the analysis of the keyword co-occurrence and association we conclude that currently there are largely untapped aspects of CPEC that have potential to the focus much future research and network analysis.

Author's keywords network

The word cloud analysis of the author’s keywords presented in Fig.  5 shows that the literature included in this paper mainly revolves around the Belt and Road Initiative and its implications for economic development, trade, and sustainable growth, with a focus on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. The analysis covers a wide range of topics, including trade in fresh agricultural products, economic expansion, development of infrastructure, and challenges confronted by CPEC. The terms “agriculture,” “vegetable,” “agrarian,” and “food” highlight the CPEC's association with the agriculture sector. Overall, the keywords offer a comprehensive understanding of the economic development, infrastructure, trade, and social aspects of the CPEC.

Author's keyword frequency

Table 2 presents the summary of the key findings of the studies included in this review. These include the objectives, methods, and key findings.

4 Discussion

CPEC has far-reaching positive implications across multiple dimensions for both China and Pakistan. The literature included in this systematic review mainly discussed three aspects of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor: including Gwadar port, infrastructure, and complementarity and Competitiveness in agricultural trade.

As the pioneering project of BRI, CPEC, with Gwadar Port as its most significant component, is expected to greatly contribute to Pakistan’s trade [ 38 ]. CPEC has a wide scope and the Gwadar port will provide access to new markets, thereby enhancing agricultural trade [ 39 , 40 ]. CPEC also has significant implications for China. Some studies suggest that China could trade more efficiently with the Middle East, Africa, and Europe by utilizing the Gwadar port and reducing the trade distance from 10,000 KM to 3000 KM [ 30 , 35 ]. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) stands out among the six corridors of the Belt and Road Initiative—namely, the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor, the New Eurasian Land Bridge, the China-Central Asia-West Asia Economic Corridor, the China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor, and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor. CPEC is strategically important in enhancing connectivity between China and Pakistan, facilitating trade routes to Europe, Asia, and beyond. The development of Gwadar Port is a key component, significantly contributing to agricultural trade by providing a major shipping hub for exporting agricultural commodities. Specific examples include the reduction in transport times and costs, enabling access to new markets for perishable goods.

Degong et al. [ 41 ] in their study highlight the potential economic benefits of the CPEC through the vast infrastructure which is anticipated to boost employment, social welfare, trade, and economic prosperity in Pakistan. Khan [ 15 ] emphasizes how the CPEC’s objectives are expanding beyond infrastructure and energy with a particular emphasis on advancing Pakistan's socio-economic growth, especially in the agriculture sector, which is the lifeline of Pakistan’s economy. The huge Chinese market trades a wide range of products with the countries associated with the BRI countries. Bilateral trade between China and BRI-associated countries has experienced a notable increase. In the context of agricultural trade, [ 27 ] in their study witnessed 8.3% annual growth in the fresh agricultural trade between China and BRI countries. They further found that since 2011, China’s fresh agricultural imports surged from USD 5.5 billion to USD 14.9 billion in 2020.

Mahmood et al. [ 29 ], Rehman et al. [ 34 ] argue that CPEC is a “game changer,” expected to eliminate poverty and uplift the local communities. They conducted survey research across all provinces of Pakistan and found that CPEC significantly contributes to rural development, socio-economic development, and rural–urban linkages through its infrastructural projects. The improved transport infrastructure and fast connectivity by providing timely access to the market are expected to enhance the agricultural output, which has a direct relation with the farming community and their standard of life [ 42 ]. Chen and Zhang [ 33 ] employed a network analysis approach to investigate how cereal trade networks are structured. They analyzed the top 10 countries and their centrality indicators for the years 2001, 2008, 2013, and 2019. Pakistan was found to have more influence in the cereal network trade.

CPEC's infrastructure projects, such as the operational and upgrading of the Karachi-Peshawar railway line (ML-1), are crucial for improving agricultural trade. These projects reduce transport times and costs, facilitating faster and more efficient market access. Enhanced road networks and railway projects, like the completed railway project under CPEC, illustrate tangible benefits, demonstrating improved logistics and expanded trade opportunities. The transport infrastructure is a significant part of the CPEC. Ali, Huang [ 17 ] quantitatively investigated the impact of enhanced infrastructure on Pakistan and China. The authors argue that, in contrast to the traditional sea trade, the new CPEC route is time and cost-effective. The reduction in distance and time in particular will benefit the bilateral agricultural trade especially the trade of perishable products. They emphasize that Pakistan's agricultural exports to China exhibit significant potential possibly due to the higher comparative advantage in the production of agricultural products such as fruits and vegetables.

Wang et al. [ 32 ] argues that China and Pakistan can benefit from each other’s comparative advantage in terms of agricultural resources and structure by increasing agricultural trade. They highlight, that to maximize efficiency and fulfill the demand of both countries, each country concentrates on producing and exporting commodities at which they excel. The authors further suggest that utilizing the geographic advantage, modernizing agricultural cooperation, and establishing an IIoT-based logistic network in Xinjiang can comprehensively improve Pakistan-China bilateral trade.

Idrees [ 37 ] study suggests that infrastructure development including roads and warehouses as well as the construction of cold storage facilities to reduce losses in the perishable commodities, are important to increase connectivity through CPEC. Alam et al. [ 31 ] studied the transit time and cost in the context of CPEC. Their study finds that shipping to China by a new route of CPEC will be less expensive for Middle Eastern countries and Europe. The shipping cost will be roughly 1450 USD per container and transit time will decrease by roughly 21–24 days. Moreover, they say that northern areas of Pakistan which are the major producers of vegetables and fruit, will benefit from the improve infrastructure. The improved connectivity makes it easy to approach bigger markets. A major portion of trade with China will shift from sea to land routes. Their study highlights the cost-effective land routes of CPEC.

CPEC infrastructure connects China’s northern part to the Southern part of Pakistan. One significant benefit of CPEC is the reduction in trade distance. However, contrary to previous studies and the general perspective of CPEC, Spies [ 21 ] draws attention to a particular worry about how the CPEC might affect the agricultural exports from Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. Agricultural exports from Gilgit are facing competition due to competing agricultural development in the neighboring Xinjiang region. This competition is causing a general decline in agricultural exports. The authors claim that fresh Cherry is one of the most promising agricultural export commodities of Gilgit-Baltistan, however even with this potential only few farmers may benefit from selling Cherry in the Chinese market. McCartney [ 28 ] in his study also acknowledge that the agricultural product produces in Xinjiang, China are resembling to the agricultural commodities production in Pakistan. Pakistan could face direct competition as a result of Xinjiang’s exports, which might lead to challenges for Pakistani farmers and agriculture exporters. Likewise, McCartney [ 36 ] suggests that China has removed barriers and made it easy for Pakistan to export agricultural products such as mango, citrus, etc. The Rashakai Special Economic Zone, Pakistan, is anticipated to contribute to agricultural productivity and use of natural resources, however, the concern is that both countries are focusing on the same agriculture sector which leads to potential competition. Xinjiang’s Western Development Program is observable in the recent trade statistics as China’s exports to Pakistan which include textile and clothing have significantly increased while Pakistan’s exports remain stationary. The potential competition between agricultural exports from Gilgit-Baltistan and China's Xinjiang region necessitates strategic measures. Policies such as subsidies for local farmers, investment in advanced agricultural technologies, and establishment of trade facilitation centers could mitigate competition and enhance export capabilities.

5 Limitations of study

This systematic review has several limitations that should be considered when interpreting its findings. We limited our search to Scopus and Web of Science databases due to their reputation and authenticity. While these databases are comprehensive and reliable, this selection may have led to the exclusion of relevant studies indexed in other databases. Consequently, some relevant research may have been overlooked. This review included only research articles. This exclusion of other types of publications such as reviews, case reports, conference papers, and grey literature could result in a narrowed scope of the findings and a potential underestimation of the breadth of available evidence. Our review included only articles published in English. This decision was made to avoid potential biases introduced by translation or machine translation errors. However, this limitation may have led to the exclusion of valuable research published in other languages, potentially introducing a language bias and limiting the generalizability of our findings to a global context. While these limitations highlight areas of potential bias and scope restriction, they also provide direction for future research. Efforts to include a broader range of databases, publication types, and languages could enhance the comprehensiveness and applicability of subsequent systematic reviews on this topic.

6 Future research directions

This review points to several possible future study directions. To gain a better grasp of agriculture trade in the context of CPEC, researchers in the future could consider the following aspects.

As earlier discussed, in the case of Gilgit-Baltistan, future research should focus on the regional impact of CPEC. Understanding the discrepancies and problems that various areas and regions experience can aid in the crafting of focused policy suggestions.

The current literature is mainly focused on the transport infrastructure and slip on the overall logistics to support agricultural trade. Research could explore specific logistics requirements such as storage facility, cold chain logistics, and transportation efficiency. Exploring these aspects can enhance the CPEC’s positive implications for the agriculture trade of Pakistan.

Further, the prevailing literature overlooks the consumer preferences in the Chinese market for Pakistani agricultural commodities. Research is inevitable to investigate the quality standards, preferences, identification of agricultural sectors with complementarity, and factors that influence market accessibility. This insight can help Pakistani farmers to align their production with Chinese market demand.

This review also reveals that the literature has minimal attention to trade integration. Investigating the effectiveness of the current policies and trade agreements concerning individual sectors of agriculture in harnessing the potential of CPEC for enhanced agricultural trade. Further, addressing areas where policy adjustment may be needed to guarantee the viability of agricultural trade under CPEC.

Following the above research direction, researchers can provide insights to inform policy decisions and exploit the potential of CPEC in the agriculture sector of Pakistan. Aside from the relevant finding, deliberately exclusion of studies other than original article and considering articles published only in English language is one of the main limitations of this systematic review. Future research could consider wide range studies with different inclusion and exclusion criteria.

7 Conclusion

The rigorous review of the articles included in this systematic review led us to the conclusion that though, there is nominal attention to the agriculture sector especially the agricultural trade of Pakistan, researchers have addressed the potential exist in CPEC to enhance Pakistan’s agriculture trade. Some studies point to the possible competition in the agricultural market between China and Pakistan. Few studies compared the CPEC route with the sea route for trade and found it more cost and time-effective. Based on the review, we provide valuable information and identified a research gap that by responding could exploit the potential of the China-Pakistan- Economic Corridor. We explored various research themes that could be considered for future studies.

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Khan, H., Edwin, M. Assessing the agricultural trade narrative of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor: a systematic review of the past decade (2013–2023). Discov Agric 2 , 51 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s44279-024-00067-6

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Received : 03 June 2024

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s44279-024-00067-6

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