What is the Difference Between Literature Review and Systematic Review?

The main difference between a literature review and a systematic review lies in their focus, methodology, and purpose. Here are the key differences:

• Focus: A literature review provides a general overview or summary of a topic, synthesizing evidence on a specific subject. In contrast, a systematic review answers a focused clinical question by identifying, selecting, synthesizing, and appraising all high-quality research evidence relevant to that question.
• Methodology: A literature review typically uses informal or subjective methods to collect and analyze data, with the conclusions possibly influenced by the author's own views. A systematic review, on the other hand, employs transparent, reproducible, and predefined methods to ensure that the search is thorough and answers the specific research question. Systematic reviews are often based on evidence-based medicine principles and use a highly sensitive search strategy to identify relevant studies.
• Purpose: The purpose of a literature review is to provide a summary or overview of a topic, often offering insights and perspectives on the existing research. A systematic review aims to answer a specific clinical question, connect practicing clinicians to high-quality evidence, and support evidence-based practice by eliminating potential biases.
• Timeline: Literature reviews can take weeks to months to complete, while systematic reviews typically require months to years to conduct.
• Components: A literature review includes an introduction, description of the methods used, a discussion, conclusion, and a reference list or bibliography. Systematic reviews, however, include pre-specified eligibility criteria, a systematic search strategy, an assessment of the validity of findings, and interpretation and presentation of the results.

In summary, a literature review provides a broad overview of a topic, while a systematic review focuses on answering a specific research question through rigorous, transparent, and reproducible methods.

Comparative Table: Literature Review vs Systematic Review

Literature reviews provide a summary of the existing literature on a topic, while systematic reviews focus on answering a specific clinical question by identifying, selecting, synthesizing, and appraising all high-quality research evidence relevant to that question. Systematic reviews follow prespecified methods, are explicit and replicable, and involve the review team assessing the quality of the evidence.