The role of literature reviews in the academic publishing process has had mixed reactions over the decades. The pendulum swings from peer reviews that are in-person and hands-on to those that are anonymous and mysterious. Regardless of the methods used, literature reviews are an integral part of research, writing, and publishing, and scholars must understand how to approach theirs in a professional and thorough manner to avoid problems.

Even the most seasoned scholar is prone to the occasional literature review issue. Some of the complications that make up the system of a review are easy to detect with patterns. How you handle preventing mistakes or potential failure in general can depend partly on noticing these patterns and avoiding them. Before you undergo your next review, let’s breakdown the importance of these processes and the common mistakes many scholars make.

How a Bad Review Can Damage Your Reputation

An integral part of literature publishing is getting your work reviewed by an expert peer. This person or team will check your findings to ensure they’re relevant and digestible by the reader, then make a conclusion based on the evidence you present and ensure it matches what you claim.

This kind of evidence-informed decision-making (EIDM) is vital to the academic industry. Without it, it’s possible for anyone to publish findings that aren’t accurate or are full of biases. EIDM follows a framework that purposely looks for system approaches in your writing. The evidence must meet rigorous standards through the entire paper, as well as each part of the research process. 

When you end up with a bad review, at best, your paper, and all your hard work, are denied. At worst, if the review is substantial enough, it could smear your academic reputation in a way that can take years to remove from your name.

To prevent this, first, you must follow the highest standards possible as you begin and complete your research. In addition to that crucial step, avoid these common review problems.

The Solutions for 5 Common Problems That Could Plague Your Review

Researchers look for patterns to determine solutions to problems. Taking that same approach to tackle your literature review means you’re more likely to experience a successful conclusion.

Here are five of the most common problems seen in reviews, and solutions to avoid them yourself.

1. Your paper isn’t relevant. It’s a denial that feels like a personal rejection to many scholars, but it’s based on outside influences, not your reputation or work. The reality is that if stakeholders aren’t going to engage in what you wrote, those that decide on what should and shouldn’t be published won’t consider your paper to be worthy of the expense. For you, though, you’ve already utilized all your resources, time, and energy to complete the project, and it’s a painful response. To avoid it, contact potential stakeholders early in the process. Get them excited and involved in the research, ask for their feedback, and include them in the momentum you’re building.
   
2. Your reviewer doesn’t see replicability or full transparency. You’ve been in the thick of the research since Day One, so some things that are obvious to you aren’t to the reader. It’s the reviewer’s job to point out these factors. Review methods must be transparent and replicable to be published. Even if you think the information is common sense, make it known explicitly, follow the CEE and other conduct review standards, and use reporting guidelines.
   
3. Your work has selection bias involved in the included studies. The evidence base should include a holistic view that represents the full population. Without it, the reviewer may claim that you used an inappropriate search method, which results in biased evidence to support the findings. Before you start your search, ensure you’re strategy is clearly defined and meets the highest standards. Consider using a specialist to help you match the strategy’s steps against a list of benchmarks, and use multiple resources and databases.
   
4. There is a lack of critical appraisal to your evidence. If some research is more valid than others, the adjustment should be included in your report. Use appraisal tools to determine which research evidence is robust, and which is valid but won’t meet critical appraisal.
   
5. Your statistics that you synthesized were incorrect. It’s possible that the counting methods utilized in your research didn’t hold up to scrutiny. This can undermine the legitimacy of your entire project. Never use vote-counting, tallying, and other less-valid methods of analysis unless there is no better option available. Meta-analysis is the preferred solution.

Being aware of the framework you set your research up by and the methods you apply is vital to a successful literature review. Keep your work bias-free, recognize the positionality you take on views, and use valid decision-making processes that are replicable through evidence.

Connect With Experts to Help Your Research Through Impactio

You’ve worked too hard on your research to let a simple mistake hold you back from publication. Before you take the next step, use Impactio’s global network of experts to verify your work’s validity and rigor.

With Impactio, you can find specialized experts to cross-reference your findings and stakeholders interested in the results. This is a simple solution that eliminates the five most common mistakes in literature reviews, and it’s all possible when you join Impactio and create a professional portfolio to showcase your research.