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Why, When, Who, What, How, and Where for Trainees Writing Literature Review Articles

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Abstract

Literature review articles provide a valuable mechanism for remaining informed amidst an ever-increasing body of scientific work. Condensing current advances into this disseminatable form is a critical activity for any research trainee. To systematize this multifaceted process, we present the “why, when, who, what, how, and where” of composing a literature review article. Commentaries include selection of a review topic, conducting modern literature searches using online databases, stepwise strategies for manuscript drafting, and prevention of plagiarism. The current work provides structures and guidance for this fundamental effort which can establish the basis for a trainee’s development of original research objectives.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge support by the National Institutes of Health (P41 EB023833) towards the establishment of the Center for Engineering Complex Tissues and its educational programs. G.L.K. is supported by the Robert and Janice McNair Foundation MD/PhD Student Scholar Program. The authors gratefully acknowledge Mani Diba for advising “how” to engage in systematic literature searches and stepwise drafting processes, and we thank Alexander M. Tatara for the “draft skeleton” concept.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Bioengineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

    Gerry L. Koons & Antonios G. Mikos

  2. Center for Engineering Complex Tissues, Houston, TX, USA

    Gerry L. Koons & Antonios G. Mikos

  3. Medical Scientist Training Program, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA

    Gerry L. Koons

  4. Department of Women’s Health, Research Institute for Women’s Health, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Katja Schenke-Layland

  5. Natural and Medical Sciences Institute (NMI) at the University of Tübingen, Reutlingen, Germany

    Katja Schenke-Layland

  6. Department of Medicine, Cardiovascular Research Laboratories, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Katja Schenke-Layland

Authors
  1. Gerry L. Koons
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  2. Katja Schenke-Layland
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  3. Antonios G. Mikos
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Antonios G. Mikos.

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Associate Editor Jane Grande-Allen oversaw the review of this article.

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Koons, G.L., Schenke-Layland, K. & Mikos, A.G. Why, When, Who, What, How, and Where for Trainees Writing Literature Review Articles. Ann Biomed Eng 47, 2334–2340 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-019-02290-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-019-02290-5

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