# Paving the Way for Mature Secondary Research: The Seven Types of Literature Review

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.01163 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.01163/

## Key facts

- Cited by 6 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 2 May 2022.

## Built on by (most cited first, 6 of 6)

- [A Vision for Auto Research with LLM Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.18765/) (2025)
- [The Promise and Challenges of Using LLMs to Accelerate the Screening Process of Systematic Reviews](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.15667/) (2024)
- [Reflections on the Reproducibility of Commercial LLM Performance in Empirical Software Engineering Studies](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.25506/) (2025)
- [Assessing the Ability of ChatGPT to Screen Articles for Systematic Reviews](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.06464/) (2023)
- [What do we know about Hugging Face? A systematic literature review and quantitative validation of qualitative claims](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.08205/) (2024)
- [A Literature Review of Literature Reviews in Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.12928/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Confusion over different kinds of secondary research, and their divergent purposes, is undermining the effectiveness and usefulness of secondary studies in software engineering. This short paper therefore explains the differences between ad hoc review, case survey, critical review, meta-analysis (aka systematic literature review), meta-synthesis (aka thematic analysis), rapid review and scoping review (aka systematic mapping study). These definitions and associated guidelines help researchers better select and describe their literature reviews, while helping reviewers select more appropriate evaluation criteria.