How to write a superb literature review

Literature reviews are important resources for scientists. They provide historical context for a field while offering opinions on its future trajectory. Creating them can provide inspiration for one’s own research, as well as some practice in writing. But few scientists are trained in how to write a review — or in what constitutes an excellent one. Even picking the appropriate software to use can be an involved decision (see ‘Tools and techniques’). So Nature asked editors and working scientists with well-cited reviews for their tips.

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Interviews have been edited for length and clarity.

Updates & Corrections

• Correction 09 December 2020: An earlier version of the tables in this article included some incorrect details about the programs Zotero, Endnote and Manubot. These have now been corrected.

References

1. Hsing, I.-M., Xu, Y. & Zhao, W. Electroanalysis19, 755–768 (2007). ArticleGoogle Scholar
2. Ledesma, H. A. et al.Nature Nanotechnol.14, 645–657 (2019). ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
3. Brahlek, M., Koirala, N., Bansal, N. & Oh, S. Solid State Commun.215–216, 54–62 (2015). ArticleGoogle Scholar
4. Choi, Y. & Lee, S. Y. Nature Rev. Chem. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-020-00221-w (2020). ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar

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