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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.

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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 .

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• What do you call this investigation?
• What problem or area will you investigate in general?
• Why is this problem important to investigate?
• What was previously done in relation to this problem? What were some of the significant studies? (Literature review)
• What theory or model is going to guide your research?
• What will you specifically investigate or do in the framework of that problem? What are your specific research questions or hypotheses?
• How will each research question be addressed ? What methods will you use for each research question?
• How will the results be analyzed?
• What are the deliverables? What can or will be gained by investigation of this problem?

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• Introduction

Literature Review: The What, Why and How-to Guide — Introduction

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• How to Pick a Topic
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What are Literature Reviews?

So, what is a literature review? "A literature review is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers. In writing the literature review, your purpose is to convey to your reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. As a piece of writing, the literature review must be defined by a guiding concept (e.g., your research objective, the problem or issue you are discussing, or your argumentative thesis). It is not just a descriptive list of the material available, or a set of summaries." Taylor, D.  The literature review: A few tips on conducting it . University of Toronto Health Sciences Writing Centre.

Goals of Literature Reviews

What are the goals of creating a Literature Review?  A literature could be written to accomplish different aims:

• To develop a theory or evaluate an existing theory
• To summarize the historical or existing state of a research topic
• Identify a problem in a field of research 

Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1997). Writing narrative literature reviews .  Review of General Psychology , 1 (3), 311-320.

What kinds of sources require a Literature Review?

• A research paper assigned in a course
• A thesis or dissertation
• A grant proposal
• An article intended for publication in a journal

All these instances require you to collect what has been written about your research topic so that you can demonstrate how your own research sheds new light on the topic.

Types of Literature Reviews

What kinds of literature reviews are written?

Narrative review: The purpose of this type of review is to describe the current state of the research on a specific topic/research and to offer a critical analysis of the literature reviewed. Studies are grouped by research/theoretical categories, and themes and trends, strengths and weakness, and gaps are identified. The review ends with a conclusion section which summarizes the findings regarding the state of the research of the specific study, the gaps identify and if applicable, explains how the author's research will address gaps identify in the review and expand the knowledge on the topic reviewed.

• Example : Predictors and Outcomes of U.S. Quality Maternity Leave: A Review and Conceptual Framework:  10.1177/08948453211037398  

Systematic review : "The authors of a systematic review use a specific procedure to search the research literature, select the studies to include in their review, and critically evaluate the studies they find." (p. 139). Nelson, L. K. (2013). Research in Communication Sciences and Disorders . Plural Publishing.

• Example : The effect of leave policies on increasing fertility: a systematic review:  10.1057/s41599-022-01270-w

Meta-analysis : "Meta-analysis is a method of reviewing research findings in a quantitative fashion by transforming the data from individual studies into what is called an effect size and then pooling and analyzing this information. The basic goal in meta-analysis is to explain why different outcomes have occurred in different studies." (p. 197). Roberts, M. C., & Ilardi, S. S. (2003). Handbook of Research Methods in Clinical Psychology . Blackwell Publishing.

• Example : Employment Instability and Fertility in Europe: A Meta-Analysis:  10.1215/00703370-9164737

Meta-synthesis : "Qualitative meta-synthesis is a type of qualitative study that uses as data the findings from other qualitative studies linked by the same or related topic." (p.312). Zimmer, L. (2006). Qualitative meta-synthesis: A question of dialoguing with texts .  Journal of Advanced Nursing , 53 (3), 311-318.

• Example : Women’s perspectives on career successes and barriers: A qualitative meta-synthesis:  10.1177/05390184221113735

Literature Reviews in the Health Sciences

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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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Writing a Literature Review

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A literature review is a document or section of a document that collects key sources on a topic and discusses those sources in conversation with each other (also called synthesis ). The lit review is an important genre in many disciplines, not just literature (i.e., the study of works of literature such as novels and plays). When we say “literature review” or refer to “the literature,” we are talking about the research ( scholarship ) in a given field. You will often see the terms “the research,” “the scholarship,” and “the literature” used mostly interchangeably.

Where, when, and why would I write a lit review?

There are a number of different situations where you might write a literature review, each with slightly different expectations; different disciplines, too, have field-specific expectations for what a literature review is and does. For instance, in the humanities, authors might include more overt argumentation and interpretation of source material in their literature reviews, whereas in the sciences, authors are more likely to report study designs and results in their literature reviews; these differences reflect these disciplines’ purposes and conventions in scholarship. You should always look at examples from your own discipline and talk to professors or mentors in your field to be sure you understand your discipline’s conventions, for literature reviews as well as for any other genre.

A literature review can be a part of a research paper or scholarly article, usually falling after the introduction and before the research methods sections. In these cases, the lit review just needs to cover scholarship that is important to the issue you are writing about; sometimes it will also cover key sources that informed your research methodology.

Lit reviews can also be standalone pieces, either as assignments in a class or as publications. In a class, a lit review may be assigned to help students familiarize themselves with a topic and with scholarship in their field, get an idea of the other researchers working on the topic they’re interested in, find gaps in existing research in order to propose new projects, and/or develop a theoretical framework and methodology for later research. As a publication, a lit review usually is meant to help make other scholars’ lives easier by collecting and summarizing, synthesizing, and analyzing existing research on a topic. This can be especially helpful for students or scholars getting into a new research area, or for directing an entire community of scholars toward questions that have not yet been answered.

What are the parts of a lit review?

Most lit reviews use a basic introduction-body-conclusion structure; if your lit review is part of a larger paper, the introduction and conclusion pieces may be just a few sentences while you focus most of your attention on the body. If your lit review is a standalone piece, the introduction and conclusion take up more space and give you a place to discuss your goals, research methods, and conclusions separately from where you discuss the literature itself.

Introduction:

• An introductory paragraph that explains what your working topic and thesis is
• A forecast of key topics or texts that will appear in the review
• Potentially, a description of how you found sources and how you analyzed them for inclusion and discussion in the review (more often found in published, standalone literature reviews than in lit review sections in an article or research paper)
• 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 sentence to draw connections, comparisons, and contrasts.

Conclusion:

• Summarize the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasize their significance
• Connect it back to your primary research question

How should I organize my lit review?

Lit reviews can take many different organizational patterns depending on what you are trying to accomplish with the review. Here are some examples:

• Chronological : The simplest approach is to trace the development of the topic over time, which helps familiarize the audience with the topic (for instance if you are introducing something that is not commonly known in your field). If you choose this strategy, be careful to avoid simply listing and summarizing sources in order. Try to analyze the patterns, turning points, and key debates that have shaped the direction of the field. Give your interpretation of how and why certain developments occurred (as mentioned previously, this may not be appropriate in your discipline — check with a teacher or mentor if you’re unsure).
• Thematic : If you have found some recurring central themes that you will continue working with throughout your piece, you can organize your literature review into subsections that address different aspects of the topic. For example, if you are reviewing literature about women and religion, key themes can include the role of women in churches and the religious attitude towards women.
• Qualitative versus quantitative research
• Empirical versus theoretical scholarship
• Divide the research by sociological, historical, or cultural sources
• Theoretical : In many humanities articles, the literature review is the foundation for the theoretical framework. You can use it to discuss various theories, models, and definitions of key concepts. You can argue for the relevance of a specific theoretical approach or combine various theorical concepts to create a framework for your research.

What are some strategies or tips I can use while writing my lit review?

Any lit review is only as good as the research it discusses; make sure your sources are well-chosen and your research is thorough. Don’t be afraid to do more research if you discover a new thread as you’re writing. More info on the research process is available in our "Conducting Research" resources .

As you’re doing your research, create an annotated bibliography ( see our page on the this type of document ). Much of the information used in an annotated bibliography can be used also in a literature review, so you’ll be not only partially drafting your lit review as you research, but also developing your sense of the larger conversation going on among scholars, professionals, and any other stakeholders in your topic.

Usually you will need to synthesize research rather than just summarizing it. This means drawing connections between sources to create a picture of the scholarly conversation on a topic over time. Many student writers struggle to synthesize because they feel they don’t have anything to add to the scholars they are citing; here are some strategies to help you:

• It often helps to remember that the point of these kinds of syntheses is to show your readers how you understand your research, to help them read the rest of your paper.
• Writing teachers often say synthesis is like hosting a dinner party: imagine all your sources are together in a room, discussing your topic. What are they saying to each other?
• Look at the in-text citations in each paragraph. Are you citing just one source for each paragraph? This usually indicates summary only. When you have multiple sources cited in a paragraph, you are more likely to be synthesizing them (not always, but often
• Read more about synthesis here.

The most interesting literature reviews are often written as arguments (again, as mentioned at the beginning of the page, this is discipline-specific and doesn’t work for all situations). Often, the literature review is where you can establish your research as filling a particular gap or as relevant in a particular way. You have some chance to do this in your introduction in an article, but the literature review section gives a more extended opportunity to establish the conversation in the way you would like your readers to see it. You can choose the intellectual lineage you would like to be part of and whose definitions matter most to your thinking (mostly humanities-specific, but this goes for sciences as well). In addressing these points, you argue for your place in the conversation, which tends to make the lit review more compelling than a simple reporting of other sources.

How to Write a Literature Review

What is a literature review.

• What Is the Literature
• Writing the Review

A literature review is much more than an annotated bibliography or a list of separate reviews of articles and books. It is a critical, analytical summary and synthesis of the current knowledge of a topic. Thus it should compare and relate different theories, findings, etc, rather than just summarize them individually. In addition, it should have a particular focus or theme to organize the review. It does not have to be an exhaustive account of everything published on the topic, but it should discuss all the significant academic literature and other relevant sources important for that focus.

This is meant to be a general guide to writing a literature review: ways to structure one, what to include, how it supplements other research. For more specific help on writing a review, and especially for help on finding the literature to review, sign up for a Personal Research Session .

The specific organization of a literature review depends on the type and purpose of the review, as well as on the specific field or topic being reviewed. But in general, it is a relatively brief but thorough exploration of past and current work on a topic. Rather than a chronological listing of previous work, though, literature reviews are usually organized thematically, such as different theoretical approaches, methodologies, or specific issues or concepts involved in the topic. A thematic organization makes it much easier to examine contrasting perspectives, theoretical approaches, methodologies, findings, etc, and to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of, and point out any gaps in, previous research. And this is the heart of what a literature review is about. A literature review may offer new interpretations, theoretical approaches, or other ideas; if it is part of a research proposal or report it should demonstrate the relationship of the proposed or reported research to others' work; but whatever else it does, it must provide a critical overview of the current state of research efforts. 

Literature reviews are common and very important in the sciences and social sciences. They are less common and have a less important role in the humanities, but they do have a place, especially stand-alone reviews.

Types of Literature Reviews

There are different types of literature reviews, and different purposes for writing a review, but the most common are:

• Stand-alone literature review articles . These provide an overview and analysis of the current state of research on a topic or question. The goal is to evaluate and compare previous research on a topic to provide an analysis of what is currently known, and also to reveal controversies, weaknesses, and gaps in current work, thus pointing to directions for future research. You can find examples published in any number of academic journals, but there is a series of Annual Reviews of *Subject* which are specifically devoted to literature review articles. Writing a stand-alone review is often an effective way to get a good handle on a topic and to develop ideas for your own research program. For example, contrasting theoretical approaches or conflicting interpretations of findings can be the basis of your research project: can you find evidence supporting one interpretation against another, or can you propose an alternative interpretation that overcomes their limitations?
• Part of a research proposal . This could be a proposal for a PhD dissertation, a senior thesis, or a class project. It could also be a submission for a grant. The literature review, by pointing out the current issues and questions concerning a topic, is a crucial part of demonstrating how your proposed research will contribute to the field, and thus of convincing your thesis committee to allow you to pursue the topic of your interest or a funding agency to pay for your research efforts.
• Part of a research report . When you finish your research and write your thesis or paper to present your findings, it should include a literature review to provide the context to which your work is a contribution. Your report, in addition to detailing the methods, results, etc. of your research, should show how your work relates to others' work.

A literature review for a research report is often a revision of the review for a research proposal, which can be a revision of a stand-alone review. Each revision should be a fairly extensive revision. With the increased knowledge of and experience in the topic as you proceed, your understanding of the topic will increase. Thus, you will be in a better position to analyze and critique the literature. In addition, your focus will change as you proceed in your research. Some areas of the literature you initially reviewed will be marginal or irrelevant for your eventual research, and you will need to explore other areas more thoroughly. 

Examples of Literature Reviews

See the series of Annual Reviews of *Subject* which are specifically devoted to literature review articles to find many examples of stand-alone literature reviews in the biomedical, physical, and social sciences. 

Research report articles vary in how they are organized, but a common general structure is to have sections such as:

• Abstract - Brief summary of the contents of the article
• Introduction - A explanation of the purpose of the study, a statement of the research question(s) the study intends to address
• Literature review - A critical assessment of the work done so far on this topic, to show how the current study relates to what has already been done
• Methods - How the study was carried out (e.g. instruments or equipment, procedures, methods to gather and analyze data)
• Results - What was found in the course of the study
• Discussion - What do the results mean
• Conclusion - State the conclusions and implications of the results, and discuss how it relates to the work reviewed in the literature review; also, point to directions for further work in the area

Here are some articles that illustrate variations on this theme. There is no need to read the entire articles (unless the contents interest you); just quickly browse through to see the sections, and see how each section is introduced and what is contained in them.

The Determinants of Undergraduate Grade Point Average: The Relative Importance of Family Background, High School Resources, and Peer Group Effects , in The Journal of Human Resources , v. 34 no. 2 (Spring 1999), p. 268-293.

This article has a standard breakdown of sections:

• Introduction
• Literature Review
• Some discussion sections

First Encounters of the Bureaucratic Kind: Early Freshman Experiences with a Campus Bureaucracy , in The Journal of Higher Education , v. 67 no. 6 (Nov-Dec 1996), p. 660-691.

This one does not have a section specifically labeled as a "literature review" or "review of the literature," but the first few sections cite a long list of other sources discussing previous research in the area before the authors present their own study they are reporting.

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How to Write a Successful Literature Review

One type of a proposal focus is a literature review/trend analysis . This type of a proposal is somewhat different from the other proposal foci. A sample literature/trend analysis is posted at the bottom of this guide.

A literature review surveys scholarly articles, books and other sources (e.g. dissertations, conference proceedings) relevant to a particular issue, area of research or theory, and provides a description, summary, and critical evaluation of these works.The goal of this form of a proposal is to provide an overview of the significant trends in the literature that is published on this topic.

The topics and references you include in your proposal should be purposeful and represent the key authors and arguments in that particular area of study. This necessitates that the review be consistently up to date and include the newest findings/discussions in that particular area of study or debate.

Definition and use/purpose

In a literature review you may highlight a critical area of a thesis, or it may be a focused, selected review of writings on a subject with the following purposes. Each work should:

• Relate to the context of its contribution to the understanding of the subject under review
• Describe / compare each work in relationship to the others in your proposal
• Identify new ways to interpret, and shed light on any gaps in, previous research
• Resolve conflicts among what is deemed as contradictory previous studies
• Identify areas of prior scholarship to prevent duplication of effort
• Illustrate how this work can be a starting point for further research
• Highlight the relevancy of the work in the context of existing literature

The literature review itself, however, does not present new primary scholarship.

What to include

• An overview of the subject, issue or theory under consideration, along with the objectives of the literature review
• Division of works under review into categories (e.g. those supporting a particular position, those who have the opposite view, and those who give alternative theses entirely)
• An explanation of how each work is similar to and how it varies from the others
• A conclusion . Determine which aspects are key in the debates on the topic, are most convincing, and make the greatest contribution to the understanding and development of this particular research area.

Evaluating the data

• Authority — What are the author's credentials? Is there evidence to support the author's arguments (e.g., primary historical material, case studies, narratives, statistics, recent scientific findings)?
• Objectivity — Does the author have a bias in the writing, or is the perspective even-handed? Does the author consider contrasting or opposing data or does he or she ignore other pertinent information in order to prove the author's point?
• Persuasiveness — Which of the author's theses are most/least convincing?
• Value — Does the author provide enough context to make the case that this is a relevant discussion in the current state of the field? Does this work make a significant contribution to create a stronger understanding of the subject?

A sample of a well-written literature review/trend analysis is available below. If you have questions, please email Cindy Winter or call her at 612-759-8580. You may also contact one of the section chairs .

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15 Literature Review Examples

Literature reviews are a necessary step in a research process and often required when writing your research proposal . They involve gathering, analyzing, and evaluating existing knowledge about a topic in order to find gaps in the literature where future studies will be needed.

Ideally, once you have completed your literature review, you will be able to identify how your research project can build upon and extend existing knowledge in your area of study.

Generally, for my undergraduate research students, I recommend a narrative review, where themes can be generated in order for the students to develop sufficient understanding of the topic so they can build upon the themes using unique methods or novel research questions.

If you’re in the process of writing a literature review, I have developed a literature review template for you to use – it’s a huge time-saver and walks you through how to write a literature review step-by-step:

Get your time-saving templates here to write your own literature review.

Literature Review Examples

For the following types of literature review, I present an explanation and overview of the type, followed by links to some real-life literature reviews on the topics.

1. Narrative Review Examples

Also known as a traditional literature review, the narrative review provides a broad overview of the studies done on a particular topic.

It often includes both qualitative and quantitative studies and may cover a wide range of years.

The narrative review’s purpose is to identify commonalities, gaps, and contradictions in the literature .

I recommend to my students that they should gather their studies together, take notes on each study, then try to group them by themes that form the basis for the review (see my step-by-step instructions at the end of the article).

Example Study

Title: Communication in healthcare: a narrative review of the literature and practical recommendations

Citation: Vermeir, P., Vandijck, D., Degroote, S., Peleman, R., Verhaeghe, R., Mortier, E., … & Vogelaers, D. (2015). Communication in healthcare: a narrative review of the literature and practical recommendations. International journal of clinical practice , 69 (11), 1257-1267.

Source: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/ijcp.12686  

Overview: This narrative review analyzed themes emerging from 69 articles about communication in healthcare contexts. Five key themes were found in the literature: poor communication can lead to various negative outcomes, discontinuity of care, compromise of patient safety, patient dissatisfaction, and inefficient use of resources. After presenting the key themes, the authors recommend that practitioners need to approach healthcare communication in a more structured way, such as by ensuring there is a clear understanding of who is in charge of ensuring effective communication in clinical settings.

Other Examples

• Burnout in United States Healthcare Professionals: A Narrative Review (Reith, 2018) – read here
• Examining the Presence, Consequences, and Reduction of Implicit Bias in Health Care: A Narrative Review (Zestcott, Blair & Stone, 2016) – read here
• A Narrative Review of School-Based Physical Activity for Enhancing Cognition and Learning (Mavilidi et al., 2018) – read here
• A narrative review on burnout experienced by medical students and residents (Dyrbye & Shanafelt, 2015) – read here

2. Systematic Review Examples

This type of literature review is more structured and rigorous than a narrative review. It involves a detailed and comprehensive plan and search strategy derived from a set of specified research questions.

The key way you’d know a systematic review compared to a narrative review is in the methodology: the systematic review will likely have a very clear criteria for how the studies were collected, and clear explanations of exclusion/inclusion criteria. 

The goal is to gather the maximum amount of valid literature on the topic, filter out invalid or low-quality reviews, and minimize bias. Ideally, this will provide more reliable findings, leading to higher-quality conclusions and recommendations for further research.

You may note from the examples below that the ‘method’ sections in systematic reviews tend to be much more explicit, often noting rigid inclusion/exclusion criteria and exact keywords used in searches.

Title: The importance of food naturalness for consumers: Results of a systematic review  

Citation: Roman, S., Sánchez-Siles, L. M., & Siegrist, M. (2017). The importance of food naturalness for consumers: Results of a systematic review. Trends in food science & technology , 67 , 44-57.

Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092422441730122X  

Overview: This systematic review included 72 studies of food naturalness to explore trends in the literature about its importance for consumers. Keywords used in the data search included: food, naturalness, natural content, and natural ingredients. Studies were included if they examined consumers’ preference for food naturalness and contained empirical data. The authors found that the literature lacks clarity about how naturalness is defined and measured, but also found that food consumption is significantly influenced by perceived naturalness of goods.

• A systematic review of research on online teaching and learning from 2009 to 2018 (Martin, Sun & Westine, 2020) – read here
• Where Is Current Research on Blockchain Technology? (Yli-Huumo et al., 2016) – read here
• Universities—industry collaboration: A systematic review (Ankrah & Al-Tabbaa, 2015) – read here
• Internet of Things Applications: A Systematic Review (Asghari, Rahmani & Javadi, 2019) – read here

3. Meta-analysis

This is a type of systematic review that uses statistical methods to combine and summarize the results of several studies.

Due to its robust methodology, a meta-analysis is often considered the ‘gold standard’ of secondary research , as it provides a more precise estimate of a treatment effect than any individual study contributing to the pooled analysis.

Furthermore, by aggregating data from a range of studies, a meta-analysis can identify patterns, disagreements, or other interesting relationships that may have been hidden in individual studies.

This helps to enhance the generalizability of findings, making the conclusions drawn from a meta-analysis particularly powerful and informative for policy and practice.

Title: Cholesterol and Alzheimer’s Disease Risk: A Meta-Meta-Analysis

Citation: Sáiz-Vazquez, O., Puente-Martínez, A., Ubillos-Landa, S., Pacheco-Bonrostro, J., & Santabárbara, J. (2020). Cholesterol and Alzheimer’s disease risk: a meta-meta-analysis. Brain sciences, 10(6), 386.

Source: https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10060386  

O verview: This study examines the relationship between cholesterol and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Researchers conducted a systematic search of meta-analyses and reviewed several databases, collecting 100 primary studies and five meta-analyses to analyze the connection between cholesterol and Alzheimer’s disease. They find that the literature compellingly demonstrates that low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels significantly influence the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

• The power of feedback revisited: A meta-analysis of educational feedback research (Wisniewski, Zierer & Hattie, 2020) – read here
• How Much Does Education Improve Intelligence? A Meta-Analysis (Ritchie & Tucker-Drob, 2018) – read here
• A meta-analysis of factors related to recycling (Geiger et al., 2019) – read here
• Stress management interventions for police officers and recruits (Patterson, Chung & Swan, 2014) – read here

Other Types of Reviews

• Scoping Review: This type of review is used to map the key concepts underpinning a research area and the main sources and types of evidence available. It can be undertaken as stand-alone projects in their own right, or as a precursor to a systematic review.
• Rapid Review: This type of review accelerates the systematic review process in order to produce information in a timely manner. This is achieved by simplifying or omitting stages of the systematic review process.
• Integrative Review: This review method is more inclusive than others, allowing for the simultaneous inclusion of experimental and non-experimental research. The goal is to more comprehensively understand a particular phenomenon.
• Critical Review: This is similar to a narrative review but requires a robust understanding of both the subject and the existing literature. In a critical review, the reviewer not only summarizes the existing literature, but also evaluates its strengths and weaknesses. This is common in the social sciences and humanities .
• State-of-the-Art Review: This considers the current level of advancement in a field or topic and makes recommendations for future research directions. This type of review is common in technological and scientific fields but can be applied to any discipline.

How to Write a Narrative Review (Tips for Undergrad Students)

Most undergraduate students conducting a capstone research project will be writing narrative reviews. Below is a five-step process for conducting a simple review of the literature for your project.

• Search for Relevant Literature: Use scholarly databases related to your field of study, provided by your university library, along with appropriate search terms to identify key scholarly articles that have been published on your topic.
• Evaluate and Select Sources: Filter the source list by selecting studies that are directly relevant and of sufficient quality, considering factors like credibility , objectivity, accuracy, and validity.
• Analyze and Synthesize: Review each source and summarize the main arguments  in one paragraph (or more, for postgrad). Keep these summaries in a table.
• Identify Themes: With all studies summarized, group studies that share common themes, such as studies that have similar findings or methodologies.
• Write the Review: Write your review based upon the themes or subtopics you have identified. Give a thorough overview of each theme, integrating source data, and conclude with a summary of the current state of knowledge then suggestions for future research based upon your evaluation of what is lacking in the literature.

Literature reviews don’t have to be as scary as they seem. Yes, they are difficult and require a strong degree of comprehension of academic studies. But it can be feasibly done through following a structured approach to data collection and analysis. With my undergraduate research students (who tend to conduct small-scale qualitative studies ), I encourage them to conduct a narrative literature review whereby they can identify key themes in the literature. Within each theme, students can critique key studies and their strengths and limitations , in order to get a lay of the land and come to a point where they can identify ways to contribute new insights to the existing academic conversation on their topic.

Ankrah, S., & Omar, A. T. (2015). Universities–industry collaboration: A systematic review. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 31(3), 387-408.

Asghari, P., Rahmani, A. M., & Javadi, H. H. S. (2019). Internet of Things applications: A systematic review. Computer Networks , 148 , 241-261.

Dyrbye, L., & Shanafelt, T. (2016). A narrative review on burnout experienced by medical students and residents. Medical education , 50 (1), 132-149.

Geiger, J. L., Steg, L., Van Der Werff, E., & Ünal, A. B. (2019). A meta-analysis of factors related to recycling. Journal of environmental psychology , 64 , 78-97.

Martin, F., Sun, T., & Westine, C. D. (2020). A systematic review of research on online teaching and learning from 2009 to 2018. Computers & education , 159 , 104009.

Mavilidi, M. F., Ruiter, M., Schmidt, M., Okely, A. D., Loyens, S., Chandler, P., & Paas, F. (2018). A narrative review of school-based physical activity for enhancing cognition and learning: The importance of relevancy and integration. Frontiers in psychology , 2079.

Patterson, G. T., Chung, I. W., & Swan, P. W. (2014). Stress management interventions for police officers and recruits: A meta-analysis. Journal of experimental criminology , 10 , 487-513.

Reith, T. P. (2018). Burnout in United States healthcare professionals: a narrative review. Cureus , 10 (12).

Ritchie, S. J., & Tucker-Drob, E. M. (2018). How much does education improve intelligence? A meta-analysis. Psychological science , 29 (8), 1358-1369.

Roman, S., Sánchez-Siles, L. M., & Siegrist, M. (2017). The importance of food naturalness for consumers: Results of a systematic review. Trends in food science & technology , 67 , 44-57.

Sáiz-Vazquez, O., Puente-Martínez, A., Ubillos-Landa, S., Pacheco-Bonrostro, J., & Santabárbara, J. (2020). Cholesterol and Alzheimer’s disease risk: a meta-meta-analysis. Brain sciences, 10(6), 386.

Vermeir, P., Vandijck, D., Degroote, S., Peleman, R., Verhaeghe, R., Mortier, E., … & Vogelaers, D. (2015). Communication in healthcare: a narrative review of the literature and practical recommendations. International journal of clinical practice , 69 (11), 1257-1267.

Wisniewski, B., Zierer, K., & Hattie, J. (2020). The power of feedback revisited: A meta-analysis of educational feedback research. Frontiers in Psychology , 10 , 3087.

Yli-Huumo, J., Ko, D., Choi, S., Park, S., & Smolander, K. (2016). Where is current research on blockchain technology?—a systematic review. PloS one , 11 (10), e0163477.

Zestcott, C. A., Blair, I. V., & Stone, J. (2016). Examining the presence, consequences, and reduction of implicit bias in health care: a narrative review. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations , 19 (4), 528-542

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ Social-Emotional Learning (Definition, Examples, Pros & Cons)
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ What is Educational Psychology?
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ What is IQ? (Intelligence Quotient)
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 5 Top Tips for Succeeding at University

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What’s Included: Literature Review Template

This template is structure is based on the tried and trusted best-practice format for formal academic research projects such as dissertations and theses. The literature review template includes the following sections:

• Before you start – essential groundwork to ensure you’re ready
• The introduction section
• The core/body section
• The conclusion /summary
• Extra free resources

Each section is explained in plain, straightforward language , followed by an overview of the key elements that you need to cover. We’ve also included practical examples and links to more free videos and guides to help you understand exactly what’s required in each section.

The cleanly-formatted Google Doc can be downloaded as a fully editable MS Word Document (DOCX format), so you can use it as-is or convert it to LaTeX.

PS – if you’d like a high-level template for the entire thesis, you can we’ve got that too .

FAQs: Literature Review Template

What format is the template (doc, pdf, ppt, etc.).

The literature review chapter template is provided as a Google Doc. You can download it in MS Word format or make a copy to your Google Drive. You’re also welcome to convert it to whatever format works best for you, such as LaTeX or PDF.

What types of literature reviews can this template be used for?

The template follows the standard format for academic literature reviews, which means it will be suitable for the vast majority of academic research projects (especially those within the sciences), whether they are qualitative or quantitative in terms of design.

Keep in mind that the exact requirements for the literature review chapter will vary between universities and degree programs. These are typically minor, but it’s always a good idea to double-check your university’s requirements before you finalize your structure.

Is this template for an undergrad, Master or PhD-level thesis?

This template can be used for a literature review at any level of study. Doctoral-level projects typically require the literature review to be more extensive/comprehensive, but the structure will typically remain the same.

Can I modify the template to suit my topic/area?

Absolutely. While the template provides a general structure, you should adapt it to fit the specific requirements and focus of your literature review.

What structural style does this literature review template use?

The template assumes a thematic structure (as opposed to a chronological or methodological structure), as this is the most common approach. However, this is only one dimension of the template, so it will still be useful if you are adopting a different structure.

Does this template include the Excel literature catalog?

No, that is a separate template, which you can download for free here . This template is for the write-up of the actual literature review chapter, whereas the catalog is for use during the literature sourcing and sorting phase.

How long should the literature review chapter be?

This depends on your university’s specific requirements, so it’s best to check with them. As a general ballpark, literature reviews for Masters-level projects are usually 2,000 – 3,000 words in length, while Doctoral-level projects can reach multiples of this.

Can I include literature that contradicts my hypothesis?

Yes, it’s important to acknowledge and discuss literature that presents different viewpoints or contradicts your hypothesis. So, don’t shy away from existing research that takes an opposing view to yours.

How do I avoid plagiarism in my literature review?

Always cite your sources correctly and paraphrase ideas in your own words while maintaining the original meaning. You can always check our plagiarism score before submitting your work to help ease your mind. 

Do you have an example of a populated template?

We provide a walkthrough of the template and review an example of a high-quality literature research chapter here .

Can I share this literature review template with my friends/colleagues?

Yes, you’re welcome to share this template in its original format (no editing allowed). If you want to post about it on your blog or social media, all we ask is that you reference this page as your source.

Do you have templates for the other dissertation/thesis chapters?

Yes, we do. You can find our full collection of templates here .

Can Grad Coach help me with my literature review?

Yes, you’re welcome to get in touch with us to discuss our private coaching services , where we can help you work through the literature review chapter (and any other chapters).

What Are The Sections Of A Research Proposal?

L earning the structure of a research proposal can be helpful while writing one. Research proposal writing services often emphasize the importance of breaking down your proposal into clear sections to ensure clarity and coherence. Typically, a research proposal comprises several key components.

A research proposal is like a roadmap for a study, outlining its purpose, methods, and expected outcomes. Typically, it consists of several key sections. Firstly, there's the introduction, which introduces the research topic and explains its importance. Then comes the literature review, where existing research relevant to the study is discussed. 

After that, the methodology section outlines how the research will be conducted, including the tools and techniques used. Next, the proposal includes a section on anticipated results and their significance. Lastly, there's often a section on the timeline and budget, detailing when and how resources will be allocated. This article will cover the sections of writing research proposal . 

Main Features of a Research Proposal

To write research proposal, it's important to cover key elements. Look for the best research proposal writing services to ensure your proposal includes all vital aspects.

Introduction

Literature review, methodology.

Research Proposal title should be to the point but informative that clearly tell what the research is about. Avoid using too long titles and extra information in it. Choose the best title for your research proposal that is relevant to your project.

A good proposal title should contain the following

• Eye catching words to grab the attention of the reader
• Positive language toward the reader

Titles should be similar to your research questions or thesis statements.

The abstract is like a snapshot of your research proposal, or a brief summary giving a intro what your study is all about. It gives the basic fundamental about your topic so they can understand the importance of the proposal. It sums up the main points: the problem you're tackling, what you aim to achieve, how you plan to do it, and what you expect to find. 

A strong abstract attracts the reader and grabs their interest in your proposal and its importance. This is the chance to make an excellent first impression and encourage readers to check out more of your research.

The introduction is the main point of the research proposal. It introduces the audience to the story by explaining the background and reasons behind your research. It highlights the main question or problem you're addressing and explains why it's important. By the end of the introduction, the reader should understand what you're studying, why it's significant, and what you hope to achieve. This section is crucial because it sets the stage for the rest of your proposal, helping the reader understand the context and purpose of your research.

The literature review acts as a map that shows the present state of information in your area of research. Here, you will be giving a summary and review of previous studies, concepts, and results related to the topic you chose. This makes it less difficult for you to see the larger context and figure out how your research fits in. In addition to underlining the importance of your work, an effective review of the literature highlights undiscovered areas and recommends places where future study may have an impact.

In the methodology section, you explain how you'll conduct your research. This includes describing the type of research you'll do, like whether it's qualitative or quantitative. You also talk about how you'll collect data, whether through surveys, interviews, or experiments. 

It's important to explain your sampling strategy, which is how you'll select participants or data points. This ensures that your sample is representative of the population you're studying. 

Additionally, you'll detail how you'll analyze the data once you've collected it. This could involve statistical tests, thematic analysis, or other methods depending on your research design. 

Clarity and feasibility are key in this section. You want to make sure that your methods are clear and that you'll be able to actually carry them out. This helps ensure that your findings will be valid and reliable.

Your research proposal's schedule section acts as a sort of road map, detailing the actions you'll comply with to finish the project. It provides the timetable for gathering information, research, and distribution of findings. Having a clear period shows off your excellent ability to manage time but also gives people trust that your study will be finished on time. It improves the trust people have in your proposal. Having an extensive timetable helps you stay on target and complete your education in an appropriate length of time, much like when you create milestones for yourself. This part of your proposal is important because it displays that you have calculated the length of time of each study part, which will help you plan carefully and make sure you succeed in finishing your project on time.

In the budget section, you list all the money you'll need for your research. This covers things like buying equipment, getting materials, paying participants, and any staff you might need. By explaining why you need each expense, you show exactly how you plan to spend the money. This transparency helps funding agencies understand why your study is worth investing in, making it more likely they'll support your research.

You must list all of the sources that you included in your research proposal in the references section. This list follows to an APA or MLA format, which makes it easier for readers to find exactly which sources you used. To maintain the academic standard and show regard for the efforts of other researchers, it is important that you use references that are right and reliable. This section acknowledges the works of earlier researchers whose work you have found useful in your research.

A good research proposal has important sections that show why your study is important, how it can be done, and how reliable it is. Whether you need money or permission for your research, knowing these sections well is key to making a strong proposal. With help from trusted research proposal writing services in the UK , new researchers can get expert advice on writing proposals, making it easier for them to succeed.

Note: This article is for information purposes only and does not contain any recommendation.

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Tourism marketing in the metaverse: A systematic literature review, building blocks, and future research directions

Contributed equally to this work with: Eva Sánchez-Amboage, Verónica Crespo-Pereira, Matías Membiela-Pollán, João Paulo Jesús Faustino

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation Business Department, University of A Coruña, A Coruña, Spain

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Methodology, Supervision, Validation, Writing – review & editing

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

Roles Visualization, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Faculdade de Letras, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

• Eva Sánchez-Amboage, 
• Verónica Crespo-Pereira, 
• Matías Membiela-Pollán, 
• João Paulo Jesús Faustino

• Published: May 10, 2024
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0300599
• Reader Comments

The aim of this research is to investigate tourist marketing within the embryonic context of the metaverse in order to comprehend the building blocks and the primary technologies employed in the sector. A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted on 386 articles, with an overall qualitative approach that included 86 references, all of which dealt with the topic of the metaverse and had direct or potential implications for the tourism sector (hotels, restaurants, means of transport, leisure activities and destination itself). The articles are taken from: Science Direct, Taylor & Francis, Emerald, Springer and Google Scholar. The SLR was carried out according to the PRISMA search protocol. The results indicate the technologies that have been most thoroughly studied at the confluence of marketing, tourism, and the metaverse (AI, virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, blockchain, tokens (NFTs) and digital twins). Moreover, they establish the foundational components of tourism marketing in the metaverse for the first time (tourism products, the metaverse as a distribution and branding channel for tourism and, tourist customer as protagonist). Finally, the study exposes research gaps and recommends future directions for exploration (monetization of products in the metaverse, promotion and marketing strategies in the metaverse, new profiles for marketing professionals, policy development that regulates commercial activity in the metaverse).

Citation: Sánchez-Amboage E, Crespo-Pereira V, Membiela-Pollán M, Jesús Faustino JP (2024) Tourism marketing in the metaverse: A systematic literature review, building blocks, and future research directions. PLoS ONE 19(5): e0300599. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0300599

Editor: Barbara Guidi, University of Pisa, ITALY

Received: August 3, 2023; Accepted: February 23, 2024; Published: May 10, 2024

Copyright: © 2024 Sánchez-Amboage et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: Data relevant to this study are available from Zenodo at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10782765 .

Funding: The article is funded by the Luis Fernández Somoza Chair and the research iMARKA Research Group, both from the University of A Coruña to ESA.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic changed how societies and economies developed around the world [ 1 ]. No other previous global crisis has affected every country and every industry [ 2 ]. In addition to economic losses, the quarantine and social isolation have been detrimental to our social and psychological well-being [ 3 ]. At the root of all this, the contactless culture has been firmly established in society and in our daily lives [ 4 ]. Tourists have exhibited new behaviors, such as taking precautionary health measures when traveling or avoiding crowded places, events and/or group travel, for example. We are faced with a “new tourist” who demands touchless/contactless travel [ 5 ] that matches their lifestyle, consisting of leisure, remote work, family obligations and hybrid activities (both virtual and real) [ 6 ].

Technology is serving as a vector of change in this post-COVID society. In the tourism industry, technological innovation is playing a fundamental role in the post-pandemic recovery [ 7 ]. Without information technology (IT), there would have been no tourism during and after COVID-19 [ 8 ]. The traditional service experience is changing "high-touch and low-tech” processes into “low-touch and high-tech” ones [ 9 ]. For example, in the hotel sector, technology has made it possible to reduce interactions between customers and staff through contactless check-in and check-out systems, digital key systems, face recognition systems, cleaning robot systems [ 7 ], as well as creating new promotion options through livestreaming [ 10 ]. Furthermore, during the main quarantine period, several tourism services and activities changed from on-site to totally digital and virtual formats. Major brands opted to reformulate communication and digital marketing strategies to boost interaction with their audiences. Companies like Airbnb created an “online experience” section [ 11 ]; restaurants have adopted new measures to maintain their income and retain employment levels [ 12 ]; museums around the world conducted live visits, primarily through the social media [ 8 ] and tourist destinations shared their history and areas of interest over the Internet, with the main goal being to connect with future tourists at an extremely complicated time worldwide. The pandemic has triggered and accelerated change [ 13 , 14 ], however, these practices were already latent in the tourism industry even before the pandemic [ 15 ].

This is where metaverse comes into play, an interconnected ecosystem of digital and physical environments that can be experienced simultaneously, seamlessly blending physical and technological realities [ 16 ]. The concept of the metaverse and the virtual experiences related to it have emerged in society and have radically changed the future of technology and its potential impact on the hospitality and tourism industry [ 6 , 17 , 18 ].

Although, the metaverse is positioned as one of the most popular research agendas [ 19 ], only two articles related to tourism and the metaverse have been published in specialized tourism journals until 2022: [ 20 , 21 ]. Authors such as [ 22 ] understand that the metaverse will be the marketing platform of the future, where communication with customers will be different from what we know now. [ 6 , 22 ] discuss the foundations and building blocks for marketing in the metaverse, while [ 23 ] consider the building blocks of tourism in the metaverse. There are no references to the building blocks of tourism marketing in the metaverse.

This systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted to address these gaps, to expand the framework for tourism marketing in the metaverse, and to identify areas for future research.

This paper presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of academic publications related to the metaverse that have direct or potential impact on tourism. The aim of this research is to investigate tourist marketing within the embryonic context of the metaverse in order to comprehend the building blocks and the primary technologies employed in the sector.

The results obtained from both objectives can be employed in other research areas within the creative industries. Across various sectors, companies share common characteristics. Those within the creative industries particularly emphasize the creation of original and innovative content, spanning products, services, or experiences. Creativity and originality serve as foundational values in these enterprises. Examples of businesses in the creative industry encompass various areas such as visual arts, traditional culture, cultural sites, publications, new media, etc.

Preliminary metaverse studies will be able to share their findings to create knowledge about the metaverse marketing discipline.

Next, the research is structured into three sections: methodology, which provides a detailed explanation of the systematic literature review; results, focusing on the most studied metaverse technologies in tourism research and the building blocks of tourist marketing in the metaverse. Finally, the research concludes with a section on conclusions, limitations, and future research directions.

Methodology

Review works are widely accepted in the academic field. Since 2012, journals focused on tourism have increased the number of review articles published, which reflects the growing popularity of this type of studies. In terms of their repercussion, the review articles most frequently cited by other authors fall under the topics of economics and finance and marketing [ 24 ].

Within review works, systematic reviews aim to summarize and analyze evidence with regard to an objective or research question. Systematic reviews are based on specifying the method used to find, select, analyze and synthesize the primary sources used in the research [ 25 ].

The present research is conducted considering the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) search protocol [ 26 ].

PRISMA is a protocol for conducting systematic reviews that consists of a 27-item checklist and a four-phase flow chart ( Fig 1 ). It was developed in the field of medicine by a group of 29 scholars with the intention of increasing the transparency and precision of literature reviews. The reason for choosing PRISMA over other existing protocols lies in its recognition and use by various disciplines throughout the world beyond the medical fields, as well as its potential for improving the validity and confidence of the systematic reviews in hospitality services and tourism [ 27 ].

• PPT PowerPoint slide
• PNG larger image
• TIFF original image

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0300599.g001

The prior publication of the protocol reduces the impact of inherent biases by the author and promotes transparency about the methods and process, as well as preventing redundant reviews. Among the many options that exist for evaluating bias risk, PRISMA promotes a system based on the evaluation of different key design components and the execution of studies so that there is solid empirical evidence of its relationship to the bias [ 29 ].

Eligibility criteria and search strategy

Several searches in different databases were carried out to decide which were the most pertinent, in terms of the number of articles revealed and the affinity of these articles to the proposed research topic. The search equation that ultimately presented the most beneficial search results was: marketing AND (metaverse OR "metaverse platform") AND (tourism OR travel OR hospitality).

It was decided to perform the search on the collections of publications most used in the fields of research on marketing, hospitality services and tourism: Science Direct, Taylor & Francis, Emerald and Springer. This search was complemented by the results from the Google Scholar search engine, since in recent years it has significantly expanded its coverage [ 30 ]. The filters used in the search of publication collections and Google Scholar were: scientific articles, English language and any date. Those references that come from non-indexed journals are eliminated. The research has examined articles on marketing and the metaverse, with direct or indirect relevance to the tourism sector, from 1992 to 2022, with a specific focus on the years 2020–2022 due to the significance of these years of publication, as explained later in "reports excluded, reason 1".

The Scopus and Web of Science databases were ruled out as they contain a small number of articles for analysis, 2 and 6, respectively; and for these not being totally related to the research objective. The same search equation was used in Proquest, obtaining a total of 293 records (doctoral theses), which after the analysis of the title, abstract and key words demonstrated that the results were not closely linked to the research proposal and thus this database was also ruled out.

An Excel document was developed to save the results, organized based on: code, title, author, key words, abstract, year, journal, DOI and origin of the corresponding author. The document has been registered on Zenodo and can be accessed through the following link: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10782765

The “code” cell helps structure the study selection process as follows and reduces the risk of researcher bias. The inclusion or exclusion of each reference has been validated by all four authors of this article.

• Records excluded : (n = 162) reviewing the title, abstract, key words and determining that the topic does not match: metaverse, blockchain, XR, AR, VR, second life, IA, virtual world.
• Reports excluded , reason 1 : (n = 44) articles prior to 2020. No filter is used with regard to the search date (“anytime”). However, after the first analyses, it was decided that the studies that would form part of the SLR would be those that were published in the last two years (2020–2022). Authors like Kim (2021) explain that the term metaverse has gained ground in the world of technology since 2020, becoming popular since 2021 when it coincided with the change of the Facebook brand to Meta, among other events.
• Reports excluded , reason 2 : (n = 54) lack of agreement with the topic. These are articles that include the word metaverse, but are not considered to fall under the social sciences (e.g. the field of medicine), or articles that address the topic but do not offer pertinent information for our research.
• Reports Included , reason 1 : (n = 10) articles that coincided with the study topic: tourism, metaverse, marketing. Also considered were those articles that, in spite of not including the word metaverse, second life or virtual word, deal with their technologies: blockchain, XR, AR, VR, IA, IoT and NFT.
• Reports Included , reason 2 : (n = 53) articles that deal with marketing and the metaverse, but that are not focused on the tourism industry, however, their information can potentially be applied in the field of tourism.

As the SLR progressed and due to the scarce number of references, it became necessary to include articles that are complementary to the research. These are articles that have been references in the SLR articles, using the “snowball” strategy.

• Reports Included , reason 3 : (n = 14) articles from the complementary search that coincide with the study topic: tourism, metaverse, marketing.
• Reports Included , reason 4 : (n = 9) articles from the complementary search on marketing and the metaverse from other sectors, with an implication for tourism.

In complementary research there are four articles that date back to before the year 2020. The inclusion of these articles poses an important bias risk. In order to avoid this, each reference has had to pass a review by all four authors.

Search protocol registration

• A search protocol registration has been developed for research on OSF registries.
• Registration name: tourism marketing in the metaverse: a systematic review
• Registration type: OSF Preregistration
• Registration DOI: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/B9V75

SLR general statistics

The findings from this review have indicated that the articles focused on the tourism sector and the metaverse are few (n = 24) (reports included reason 1 (n = 10) and reports included reason 3 (n = 14)), which indicates that for the time being, the topic of study is novel and more knowledge on the subject is needed.

Publications on marketing and the metaverse have been fairly recent. Most of them have been concentrated in the year 2022 ( Fig 2 ). Through screening the SLR, it was observed that the main themes about the metaverse evolve over time. Articles published before 2020 focus on topics such as Second Life, virtual world, and 3D, while articles after 2020 cover topics like metaverse, blockchain, XR, AR, VR, Second Life, AI, virtual world, IoT, and NFTs.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0300599.g002

Table 1 shows that, 43% of the articles on the metaverse analyzed are from European universities, primarily the United Kingdom (12) and Germany (4). The topic is also studied in Asia (29%), notably in universities in South Korea (8) and China (7). The United States appears as the leading country in research in this area, with 11 publications. These statistics show that the metaverse is a topic of global interest, with research efforts concentrated in Europe, Asia, and the United States. This distribution reflects the widespread curiosity and exploration of the metaverse concept across different regions and academic institutions.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0300599.t001

Metaverse concept

Most of the studies analyzed agree that the word metaverse is not a recent one, as it was referenced in the science fiction novel “Snow Crash” by Neal Stephenson in 1992 [ 31 ]. Even [ 20 ] remind us that the concept could date back as far as 1909, since it is also mentioned in the work “Machine Stops” by E. M. Foster. In any case, its popularity has grown with the release of Second Life in 2003 [ 22 ], only to take off in 2021, supported by a more developed technological scenario and after different brands began to propose their activity in the metaverse (e.g. Facebook rebrand itself as Meta) [ 32 ]. Several articles analyzed also expose the idea that the term Metaverse combines “meta” (meaning post, after or beyond) and “verse” (universe) [ 4 , 6 , 33 ] and it is defined as an ecosystem of shared and interconnected digital and physical environments that can be experienced in a synchronous manner, where physical and technological realities are seamlessly combined [ 16 ]. Enabled by Internet 3.0, the metaverse refers to a three-dimensional virtual space that focuses on social connections [ 20 ] or in a reductionist definition of the metaverse: a space designed for users by users, which can satisfy whomever, whatever, however, wherever and whenever [ 34 ].

However, in the RSL we find authors who consider that the conception of a true metaverse, in the sense of a digital universe parallel to our analogic world (where the participants can engage in social, economic, artistic or leisure activities beyond just videogames), has yet to be created and is pending the development of the technologies that would make it possible [ 35 ]. That’s why numerous companies, such as Meta, Microsoft, Epic Games, and Google, are working on and investing in crucial emerging technologies for the metaverse, such as virtual reality headsets, augmented reality sensors, and blockchain [ 36 ]. In any event, the challenges presented by the metaverse, its technology, and its prospective evolution remain largely unknown [ 37 ]. This pertains equally to the physical and psychological well-being of both individuals and collectives [ 38 ].

The RSL indicates that there are three terms to refer directly to tourism activity in the metaverse: “metaverse tourism” [ 21 ], “metaversal tourism” [ 39 ] or a more indirect option, “Metaleisure” [ 40 ]. The metaverse, when associated with tourism, uses physical reality in combination with mixed reality (MR), with the latter consisting of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). So far, the more extensively used terms in the field of tourism research is virtual tourism [ 3 , 41 ], also referred to as “cloud tourism”, which uses both VR and AR technologies, as well as live video streaming [ 3 ].

Finally, related to the metaverse concept, a substantial body of evidence suggests that the contactless culture driven by the COVID-19 pandemic [ 5 , 6 ] has promoted the development of the metaverse and, concurrently, has spurred research into the enabling virtual technology of the metaverse [ 37 , 42 , 43 ]. More specifically, some references delve into its impact on financial markets and the use of NFTs and cryptocurrencies for payment [ 44 ], the digital economy [ 37 ], or virtual museums [ 42 ].

Statistics on tourism in the metaverse

Through the SLR and complementary research, information is gathered regarding the impact of the metaverse on the tourism sector.

The metaverse is so new that the earliest statistics and estimates date back to 2022. It is predicted that income from a single metaverse performance, such as the Travis Scott concert, would amount to at least $1 million, with a total of $20 million [ 44 ]. According to the International Congress and Convention Association [ 45 ] the market share for virtual and hybrid gatherings has doubled since 2020. In addition, 61% of presenters, while acknowledging the importance of on-site events, believe that there is a push toward hybrid (on-site and online) events [ 46 ]. Thomas Cook, as part of its “Try Before You Fly” campaign, produced a variety of immersive 360º VR contents lasting 5 minutes each, with the goal of presenting New York as a destination. These views allowed the agency to increase reservations for excursions to New York by 190% [ 47 , 48 ]. The figures from Kang’s study [ 49 ] also confirm the effectiveness of VR for the tourism sector. VR devices (head-mounted displays (HMD) had a 47% greater telepresence than video and promoted engagement, thus increasing the client’s desire to purchase by 75%. In 2019, 20% of potential tourists expressed interest in VR devices in order to receive travel-related content [ 50 ]. In 2021, 9.54 million shipments of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) helmets were recorded. In 2022, it is expected that the AR/VR headset shipments to consumers will amount to 13.24 million units [ 51 ].

Most studied technologies for tourism marketing in metaverse

The word cloud generated from the 86 articles analyzed in the SLR ( Fig 3 ) serves to illustrate the central technologies and systems involved in the development of tourism marketing in the metaverse.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0300599.g003

RSL reveals the core technologies, systems, and applications associated with tourism marketing, including but not limited to tokens (NFTs), blockchain, virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, AI, and digital twins. Fig 4 shows the results of a tag cloud analysis of 86 articles (based on their keywords). In addition, Internet of Things (IoT), gamification and new payment systems such as cryptocurrencies are also detected as predominant themes (outside the keywords).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0300599.g004

Blockchain technology and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT).

The findings from the existing literature have shown that digital technologies play a crucial role in gaining a competitive edge in marketing [ 52 ]. Specifically, the application of NFT technology revolutionizes the way in which the content is created, marketed, exchanged, stored, and authenticated, both for the content creators themselves and for their fans.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are transferable rights to digital assets, such as art, collectables, music or game elements. This phenomenon and its markets have grown significantly since early 2021 [ 53 ]. NFTs are uniquely certified with blockchain (a set of technologies that make it possible to keep a secure, decentralized, synchronized and distributed register of digital operations without the need for third-party intermediation) authentication [ 54 , 55 ]). There is even mention of a new type of marketing, “NFT marketing”, which is focused on the creation, promotion and strategic use of NFTs to achieve marketing objectives [ 56 ].

Fungible goods, such as money or commercial goods, can be exchanged for the same type of goods. On the contrary, non-fungible items cannot be exchanged for a similar product because their value exceeds the real value of the material [ 53 ]. NFTs can include the offer of products or services of either a digital or physical nature, with markets for their sale, such as OpenSea and Rarible. Authors like [ 57 ] introduced a transformative category in NFTs known as Dynamic Non-Fungible Tokens (dNFTs), representing a pioneering advancement within the NFT landscape. These dNFTs extend the scope of NFTs to include a broad spectrum of products and services, encompassing both digital and physical offerings.

For the travel sector, offering NFT-based services to passengers by travel companies is a savvy approach that allows these companies to track passengers, gather and analyze customer data, and enhance service levels [ 58 ].

Cryptocurrencies are used to make purchases, primarily in Ethereum (ETH), as a payment and negotiation option, which demonstrates a close relationship between the cryptocurrency market and the NFT market [ 59 ]. Cryptocurrencies are modifying the very nature of how travelers use and manage payment systems [ 60 ]. The adoption of new payment methods by companies in the tourism sector poses a series of clear advantages: differentiation from companies that do not accept them, an increased conversion rate related to offering more alternatives for reservations and the security offered by collecting non-reimbursable fees [ 61 ].

VR, AR and MR technology.

The literature is clear that virtual reality is making progressive advancements and becoming increasingly adopted. It is widely acknowledged in the SLR that virtual reality (VR) technologies are being used by millions of people. This is especially true after the outbreak of Covid-19, as VR platforms like VR Chat, Facebook Horizon, and Rec Room experienced exponential growth due to its secure and attractive way of connecting with others, when travel and social gatherings were heavily restricted. Through virtual reality, users can experience interacting with others in seemingly infinite worlds, creating their own avatars, and enjoying a social atmosphere comparable to reality [ 62 ]. VR creates a completely digital environment that is cut off from the outside world [ 63 ], in which the user (or their avatar) navigates through a virtual environment [ 49 ]. Authors, such as Jaung [ 64 ] in the field of natural sciences, explain how metaverse technologies, including VR, provide a new way of interacting with nature through immersive three-dimensional virtual worlds.

In terms of marketing, VR can be employed by specialists to co-create value with consumers and promote consumer-brand engagement [ 65 ].

Augmented reality (AR) is another essential technology for metaverse tourism activities. AR has emerged as an innovative communication device that adds virtual information to a user’s real-world environment [ 63 ]. It enhances the real-world atmosphere by providing context-sensitive data [ 66 ], such as numbers, letters, symbols, audio, video and graphics [ 67 ]. AR and VR are the most prominent examples of immersive technologies [ 68 ]. Mixed reality (MR) intertwines real and virtual worlds [ 63 ], while extended reality (XR) serves as an umbrella term encompassing previous technologies [ 69 ].

Artificial intelligence (AI) and digital twins.

Other common themes observed in the SLR included artificial intelligence and digital twins. AI can offer highly precise information to assist an organization in making better decisions based on collected data [ 70 ]. The global pandemic has spurred many organizations to accelerate investments in AI to optimize production capacity, logistics, and customer management [ 71 ]. An example of this is the use of digital twins. These are digital replicas of physical objects, processes, or services which allow the collection of data to create simulations that model, test, and predict the performance of a product, process, or service in the real world [ 72 – 74 ]. Digital twins can be developed for objects, buildings, services, systems, and even cities. By combining big data, Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, AI, and data analysis, digital twins allow us to analyze data and simulate potential future scenarios.

Practical cases of tourism marketing in the metaverse

Most of the articles analyzed in this research provide examples that help to understand how metaverse technologies are incorporated into the tourism marketing. While the metaverse (or metaverses) is still in development [ 75 ], the tourism industry is already using its technologies. Those involved, such as hotels, restaurants, transport, leisure activities, and destinations, “tangibilize” their services and offer immersive experiences to the public [ 21 ]. Table 2 offers a summary of the examples presented in the SLR and supplementary research, regarding the implementation of metaverse technologies, systems and applications in the tourism marketing, covering destinations, hotels, restaurants, transportation, and leisure/cultural activities (e.g., concerts, theatre and museums).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0300599.t002

Metaverse building blocks

In the SLR, two articles ([ 6 , 22 ]) were found that discussed the fundations and the building blocks of marketing in the metaverse. These early contributions shed light on the beginning stages of marketing activities within the metaverse.

Dwivedi et al. [ 6 ] describe the foundations of metaverse marketing, based on five key elements: product, branding, distribution channels, consumer interaction, and customer information. NFTs allow for unique virtual products, VR and AR offer new branding opportunities, AI agents provide personalized consumer interactions, and the metaverse itself is a treasure trove of consumer information.

Hollensen, Kotler & Opresnik [ 22 ], on the other hand, explain the nine building blocks of marketing in the metaverse, including hardware, networking, computers, virtual platforms, interchange standards and tools, payments, content, services and assets, consumer and business behaviours. Hardware such as VR headsets, mobile phones and haptic gloves provides access to the metaverse, networking ensures data transmission and reliability, computing power providing the necessary resources for metaverse to function properly, virtual platforms enable users to interact with the metaverse, interchange standards allow for interoperability, payments (cryptocurrencies and digital currencies) cover purchases and transfer of money, content and services provide experiences, and consumer and business behaviours are shaped by the metaverse.

Outside the SLR, [ 93 ] outlines the key building blocks and future challenges of the metaverse as: 1) ethical, regulatory, governance, security, and privacy challenges; 2) an ecosystem including enterprise and consumer use cases, content creation, virtual economy, and avatars; and 3) the underlying technologies, such as extended reality (VR/AR), user interfaces, AR, blockchain, and edge computing.

Furthermore, outside of the RSL, [ 94 ] mention the major technological building blocks: networks, computing, 3D modeling, IoT, AI, blockchain, XR, and interface devices, each of which is explored in brief.

Buhalis, Leung & Lin [ 23 ] emphasize that the development and success of tourism in the metaverse is dependent upon certain key building blocks: 1) networking infrastructure (hardware devices, software applications, and network services), 2) enabling devices (such as MR/VR headsets and environment rendering devices), 3) empowering platforms or virtual worlds (with high-fidelity graphics and immersive experiences), and 4) technology-ready users (there is an increasing demand for users who are willing to engage in the metaverse).

This search revealed a gap in the literature regarding the building blocks of tourism marketing within the metaverse.

A proposal of the building blocks of tourism marketing in the metaverse

This article seeks to fill the gap by proposing the foundations of tourism marketing in the metaverse. For this purpose, [ 6 ] and [ 22 ] are taken as a starting point, which is then supplemented by the insights drawn from the SLR and complementary research. The information in this section can be completed with the practical examples presented in Table 2 .

• Examples found in 2022 mainly focused on the use of NFTs (blockchain technology) and virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) (see Table 2 ).
• Virtual Reality (VR) is enabling immersive experiences that can create avatars that embody a new traveller identity for the tourism industry. This allows them to virtually explore destinations they have visited as well as new ones and engage in creative fantasy experiences in the metaverse [ 21 ]. Also, thanks to gamification, new tourist products can be created, with greater interaction even than the real tourist product, as is the case of the virtual Museum Renaissance (see Table 2 ).
• Companies in the tourism sector are increasingly adopting new payment methods to differentiate themselves from their competitors, improve customer conversion rates, and gain the security of collecting non-refundable fees [ 61 ]. For instance, the Nomo Soho Hotel in New York offers tourism packages in NFT format for sale on the OpenSea token marketplace through the Ethereum cryptocurrency [ 84 ]. This serves as another example of a novel type of tourism product.
• But it should also be understood as a new sales channel, a touchpoint so brands can communicate with their customers [ 96 ]; a way to offer innovative omnichannel experiences that allow brands to position themselves in the minds of consumers and open up new markets. It is possible, thanks to metaverse, for brands to penetrate a digital worldwide market, through virtual communication, digital branding, and online marketing [ 97 ].
• Brands have the opportunity to adopt totally new ways of interacting with users in the metaverse and launch fully customized offers through immersive virtual spaces [ 22 , 98 ]. Emerging specialties such as avatar marketing are gaining traction as a brand reinforcement strategy [ 99 ]. Also, advertisements for a brand will be interactive and customized. AR and VR technologies will allow users try out the product or service before they buy it [ 97 ], through strategies like “try before you buy” [ 3 ].
• NFTs also play a crucial role in brand positioning in the metaverse. Promoting storytelling and collectable assets in token format, even prior to the product launch (which can be digital or physical), will create interest in the product and the brand being marketed, as well as a new flow of income even before the product is available for sale. In the years to come, NFT could be the central touchpoint between brands and their consumers [ 100 ].
• From the distribution point of view, NFT can break down the barriers between the physical and virtual worlds in a way that is similar to how modern omnichannel marketing systems integrate traditional distribution channels with online shopping. NFTs eliminate the barrier of the intermediary, thanks to blockchain technology. AI will be used to automate smart contracts, decentralized accounting books and other blockchain technologies to allow virtual transactions. In this terrain free of intermediaries or control, there will be a need to establish the rules of the game that make it possible to comply with the stipulated ethical codes [ 101 ].
• Metaverse technologies allow for new and immersive interaction with customers, as well as providing useful data on customers beyond social media [ 6 ]. Enriched data about buyers and analytical capacities help to define customer profile and therefore to improve the sopping experience in virtual environments, promoting brand loyalty in the worlds of the metaverse [ 98 , 102 ].
• Analytic marketing helps companies optimize campaigns, segment markets, reduce costs [ 103 ] and make better decisions [ 104 ]. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being used to create digital twins that can provide data to simulate scenarios and further develop customer experience [ 105 ]. Blockchain technology is also being employed to promote ethical marketing strategies such as loyalty programs, traceable online advertising, brand transparency in online markets [ 86 , 89 ] or to claim ownership of original digital works and build loyalty [ 92 ].

The Fig 4 shows a graphical summary of Building Blocks of tourism marketing in the metaverse.

Discussions, conclusions and future research directions

Research into the topic of the metaverse, especially within the tourism sector, addresses an important priority because the impact of the metaverse in tourism marketing is still novel. The tourism industry is an interesting and relevant field of study due to its influence on the economy, society, culture, and environmental aspects of nations worldwide.

Screening of the SLR reveals that topics related to the metaverse evolve over time. Articles published prior to 2020 mainly focus on topics like Second Life, virtual world, and 3D, while more recent articles discuss concepts such as metaverse, blockchain, XR, AR, VR, Second Life, AI, virtual world, IoT, and NFTs. The majority of publications come from European universities, with the United Kingdom (12) and Germany (4) leading the way in research. Asia is also a major source of research, with South Korea (8) and China (7) being notable contributors. Finally, in America, United States produced the most number of publications, with 11 articles present in the literature review. Overall, these findings indicate that research into the metaverse and its implications for the tourism sector is an emergent research topic, with universities in European and North American countries leading the scientific research in this field, alongside Asian countries like South Korea and China, possibly driven by their growing interest in technological advancement.

Connecting the topic with existing theory, this research is presented as the first to conduct a SLR on tourism marketing in metaverse. The technologies that have been most thoroughly studied at the confluence of marketing, tourism, and the metaverse are: AI, virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, blockchain, tokens (NFTs) and digital twins. Dwivedi et al. [ 6 ] and Hollensen, Kotler & Opresnik [ 22 ] explore the fundamental concepts and elements of marketing within the metaverse, whereas Buhalis, Leung & Lin [ 23 ] delve into the components of tourism in the metaverse. However, there is an absence of references pertaining to the building blocks of tourism marketing within the metaverse.

Given the embryonic stage of metaverse development and the limited knowledge surrounding its impact on society [ 106 ], an analysis of its evolution and adaptation to different sectors is needed to ensure it is established securely. The metaverse has already begun to transform the way people buy, work, socialize, and entertain, particularly for young early adopters. This article proposes the tourism industry as a case study to investigate marketing in the metaverse. In recent years, technology and creativity have been the driving forces behind the sector’s development. Creative industries are vital, accounting for 3% of the world’s GDP, and the current pandemic has caused them to grow and become more digitalized with the help of advanced technologies. Results from this research can be applied to other fields in the creative industries and will help to create knowledge around metaverse marketing.

Consequently, our research seeks to establish the building blocks of tourism marketing in the metaverse, by combining insights from the literature review with complimentary research, based on: the tourism product; the metaverse as a distribution and branding channel for tourism; tourist customer as protagonist. The research results show how the tourism product changes with the metaverse. Tourism products can be adapted to the metaverse with digital offerings, such as blockchain technology (e.g., NFTs) and virtual reality, and gamification allowing for creative fantasy experiences. The metaverse can be used as a sales channel and touchpoint between brands and their customers, with technologies such as AR, VR and NFTs enabling immersive experiences and personalized offers. Additionally, AI and blockchain can be used to create customer interaction, experience, and collect customer data in the metaverse. Tourism sector can benefit from the use of blockchain technology to claim ownership of digital works and build loyalty.

The systematic literature review points toward prospective research directions. Investigating tourism marketing in the metaverse should encompass several key areas:

• Evaluating customer engagement and virtual experiences [ 98 ]. For example, the introduction of smart glasses by Ray-Ban, equipped with advanced features like a 5MP camera, three microphones, speakers, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi capabilities, has the potential to transform the way travel experiences are captured and shared. This innovation also impacts the role of social media in sharing tourism experiences [ 107 ].
• To keep customers motivated and engaged in the metaverse, gamification programs are expected to play a crucial role [ 108 ].
• The use of blockchain technology can significantly contribute to creating a secure, decentralized, synchronized, and distributed record of digital transactions, eliminating the need for third-party intermediaries. This has the potential to revolutionize various aspects of the metaverse [ 54 , 55 ], including the potential of blockchain integration with the Internet of Things [ 109 ].
• Research is also needed to explore the monetization of products in the metaverse, including the adoption of NFTs [ 53 ] the digital payment systems (DPS 2.0) [ 103 , 110 ]. It is essential to investigate which payment methods will be used in the metaverse and what new VR experiences will enable future tourists to experience [ 21 , 111 ].
• The use of metaverses introduces new ways of business-to-consumer interaction that enable the simulation of the physical world in the virtual world [ 112 ]. Research should explore how metaverse distribution channels can become replacements for physical channels.
• Additionally, research should investigate the potential for experience-based strategies instead of price strategies, as well as how intermediaries may be redefined in the metaverse.
• It will also be necessary to consider what happens to companies and tourist destinations that don’t opt to use metaverse technologies.
• The new profiles of marketing professionals and policy development that regulates commercial activity in the metaverse necessitates skills and knowledge focused on technology, predictive analytics, innovative strategies, and new mechanisms [ 113 ]. Tourism marketing professionals will need to adapt to the demands of the metaverse, as well as their corresponding training, skills and abilities.
• Finally, research is needed to determine the ethical challenges associated with the development of virtual reality [ 114 ] as well as measures to protect customer data in the metaverse and how users can control, share, or monetize their data online [ 70 , 115 ].

Limitations

Due to its novelty, the research presents certain limitations in terms of the number of references analyzed. In addition, the fast evolution of both technology and publications on the metaverse means that is will be necessary to update the number of published articles on a monthly basis.

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