Doing Literature Review:

Tips and Tricks

Khaled Hussainey
Professor of Accounting & Financial Management
University of Portsmouth, UK
 Structure
• Tips for Top-ranked Journals

• Tips for Literature Review

• Tips for Research Gaps

• Tips for Research Contributions

• Tips for Hypotheses Development

• Tips for Systematic Literature Review

The Ranks of the Journals
Financial Accounting Journals
 Major Management Accounting
Journals

1. Journal of Cost Management

http://maaw.info/JournalofCostManagement.htm
2. Management Accounting Review
http://www.journals.elsevier.com/management-accounting-research/
3. Journal of Management Accounting Research
http://aaahq.org/MAS/jmar.cfm
4. Management Accounting Quarterly
http://www.imanet.org/resources_and_publications/management_accountin
g_quarterly.aspx
 Auditing Journals

• Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory

• The Journal of Accounting, Auditing, and Finance
• Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and
Taxation
• International Journal of Auditing
• Managerial Auditing Journal
• International Journal of Accounting, Auditing and
Performance Evaluation
 Accounting Education Journals

• Accounting Education. An International Journal

• The Journal of Accounting Education

• Issues in Accounting Education

• Advances in Accounting Education

• Accounting Educator’s Journal

Public Sector Accounting
Governmental Accounting
Non-Profit Accounting

8
Accounting History
Journals
 Major Islamic Accounting
• Journal Journals
of Economic Behavior & Organization (JEBO)
http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-economic-behavi
or-and-organization/

• Accounting, Auditing and Accountability (AAAJ)

http://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/j
ournals.htm?id=AAAJ

• International Journal of Islamic Financial Services

http://www.iiibf.org/journal.html

• Journal of Islamic Accounting and Business Research

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=1759-081
7

• Accounting Forum
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01559982 10
Major Islamic Accounting

• International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance

and Management
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1826938

• Accounting History
http://www.uk.sagepub.com/journals/Journal201764

• Journal of Business Ethics

http://www.springer.com/social+sciences/applied+ethics/journal
/10551

• Critical Perspectives On Accounting

http://www.journals.elsevier.com/critical-perspectives-on-accou
nting/
Literature Review Journals
 Tips for Literature Review
What is a Literature
Review?
An academic literature review is defined as
”The selection of available documents (both published and
unpublished) on the topic, which contain information, ideas,
data and evidence written from a particular standpoint to fulfil
certain aims or express certain views on the nature of the topic
and how it is to be investigated, and the effective evaluation of
these documents in relation to the research being proposed”
(Hart, 2001, p. 13).

Hart, C. (2001). Doing a literature search. London: Sage.

 Why do we need a literature
review?
• To identify research gaps.
• To convince an intended reader that the topic is worth addressing.
• To highlight the contribution (e.g., which of the research gaps will be
filled in the present study).
• To understand the research background, so we can clarify the research
problem, contributions and to avoid replication.
• To understand relevant concepts and theories.
• To understand different methodologies used in the literature including
data sources.
• To find out if our findings are consistent with prior research (or not)
and (why).
 Why citation of literature is
important?
• To give credit to other researchers and acknowledge
their ideas.

• To avoid plagiarism.

• To enhance credibility of your work.

• To show off your scientific knowledge.

 Critical Literature
Review
A literature review is an overview of the previously published works on
a specific topic. The term can refer to a full scholarly paper or a section
of a scholarly work such as a book, or an article.

Good critical literature reviews tell a story and help to advance our
understanding of what has been done in the literature.

A critical review of a journal article evaluates the strengths and

weaknesses of an article's ideas and content.

It provides critical analysis and interpretation that allow readers to

assess the your contribution(s).
Reading critically

Think about:

 What were the research aims of the paper/book?

 Is the research aim achieved? If so, how did they do it?
 Are there any problems with their methodology?
 Was it a strong or a weak research model?
 How will this research help with your own research?
 What can you take from it?
 What needs to be avoided?
 What are you doing differently?
Critical thinking
(a three-year-old’s guide)
• Why?
• How does that work?
• What’s that made of?
• What’s that for?
• What does that mean?
• But X says…
• How do you know?
• So what?
• Says who?
• What happens if…
 Critical Reading &
Analysis
When reading critically, focus on the purpose of your literature review:
• Think about what you expect from the article before reading it
• Skim the abstract, headings, conclusion, and the first sentence of each
paragraph
• Focus on the arguments presented rather than facts
• Take notes as you read and start to organise your review around themes and
ideas
• Consider using a table, matrix or concept map to identify how the different
sources relate to each other
• Note four to six points for each study that summarises the main points and
conclusions
• Be as objective as possible
Source: https://libguides.murdoch.edu.au/LitReview/read
 Analysing your sources
• Relevance - Is the article relevant to your topic? Is the research methodology
comprehensively described?
• Currency - Is the source up-to-date? Does it consider the latest research on your
topic?
• Reliability - Is the source peer-reviewed? How reputable is the source and what is its
impact factor?
• Provenance - Are the author's arguments supported by evidence (primary material,
case studies, narratives, statistics, recent findings)?
• Persuasiveness - Which of the author's arguments are most/least convincing?
• Objectivity - What is the purpose of the article and its intended audience? Is contrary
data considered or is certain pertinent information ignored to prove the author's
point? Can you detect any bias in the content?
• Accuracy - Does the data support the conclusions drawn? Is the article properly
referenced?
• Value - Are the author's opinions and conclusions convincing? Does the work
ultimately contribute in any significant way to an understanding of the subject?

Source: https://libguides.murdoch.edu.au/LitReview/read
Note Taking
Taking clear, legible notes will help to focus your critical reading
and analysis of your literature review sources. When taking notes,
avoid plagiarism by:
• keeping track of the difference between information from your
sources and from your own ideas
• providing clear references, including page numbers

Source: https://libguides.murdoch.edu.au/LitReview/read
Source: https://libguides.murdoch.edu.au/LitReview/read
 An important observation

The use of literature summary tables is very

useful for writing critical review articles

We need to:
(i) cover most relevant and significant literature
related closely to the research questions and
objectives
(ii) include up-to-date literature
 Critical Reading &
Analysis Checklist
• Does your literature review highlight flaws, gaps, or
shortcomings of specific texts or groups of texts?
• Have you identified areas that have not yet been researched or
have not yet been researched sufficiently?
• Does the literature demonstrate a change over time or recent
developments that make your research relevant now?
• Are you able to discuss research methods used to study this
topic and/or related topics?
• Can you clearly state why your research is necessary?

Source: https://libguides.murdoch.edu.au/LitReview/read
Saunders et al. (2012)
 27

Saunders et al. (2012)

To be critical …
• Criticise the content

• Criticise the method(s)

• Criticise the sample

• Criticise the validity of the analysis

• Criticise the findings and/or the interpretation of the findings

To be critical … use critical-related words
• A major criticism of Smith’s work is that ….
• One question that needs to be asked, however, is whether ….
• A serious weakness with this argument, however, is that ….
• One of the limitations with this explanation is that it does not explain why…
• One criticism of much of the literature on X is that ….
• The key problem with this explanation is that ….
• The existing accounts fail to resolve the contradiction between X and Y.
• However, there is an inconsistency with this argument.
• Smith’s argument relies too heavily on qualitative analysis of ….
• It seems that Jones’ understanding of the X framework is questionable.
• Smith’s interpretation overlooks much of the historical research ….
• X’s analysis does not take account of …. nor does he examine ….
 Tips for Research Gaps
How do you find research gaps in a
• A research gap isresearch
defined as paper?
a topic or area for which
missing or insufficient information limits the ability to
reach a conclusion for a question.
• Research gaps could be found in the conclusion of the
article (research limitations and suggestions for future
research ).
• Researchers need to find other research gaps such as:
Evidence Gap Empirical Gap Knowledge Gap Practical-Knowledge Gap
Methodological Gap Theoretical Gap Population Gap

Miles, D. (2017), A Taxonomy of Research Gaps: Identifying and Defining the

Seven Research Gaps
• Types of Research Gaps*:

• Evidence Gap: if research findings contradict.

• Knowledge Gap: There are two settings where a knowledge gap

might occur.
- First, knowledge may not exist in the actual field to theories and
literature from related research domains.
- Second, it might be the case that results of a study differs from what
was expected.
* Miles, D. (2017), A Taxonomy of Research Gaps: Identifying and Defining the Seven Research Gaps
• Practical-Knowledge Gap: A practical–knowledge (action-
knowledge) conflict arises when the actual behaviour in practice is
different from the expected behaviour. In this case, research could
seek to determine the scope of the conflict and to uncover the
reasons for its existence.
• Methodological Gap: This gap addresses the conflicts with the
research methods in the prior studies and offers a new line of
research that is different from those research methods.
• Empirical Gap: It often addresses conflicts that no study to date
has directly attempted to evaluate a subject or topic from an
empirical approach.
• Theoretical Gap: Gaps in theory with the prior research or
theoretical conflict.
• Population Gap: This relates to the population that is not
adequately represented or under-researched in the evidence base
or prior research.
 Tips for Research
Contributions
• What is research contribution?
• How do you find contributions in a research paper?
• How do you find research gaps in a research paper?
• What are the types of research contributions?
• How to think about research contributions with your
research?
• How do you know that you have made a substantial
contribution with your research?
• Where should you write your contribution(s)?
• How do you write a contribution?
 What is research contribution?
• A ''contribution'' adds to the literature through filling a research
gap.

• A ''contribution‘’ shows how your study may offer new insights

that previous studies might have missed.

• Simply … what is new in your research?

• Researchers need to identify “from which angle their research

is contributing to the literature”?
 How do you find
contributions in a research
paper?
• In most top-ranked journals, you will find the contribution in the
introduction of the paper.

• Authors use contribution-related keywords such as “contribute,

contributes, contribution, contributions, new evidence, novel,
original, first study, new method, ….etc”.

• Consider the contributions of the papers as strengths of the

articles when evaluating the literature (e.g. in a critical literature
review, you need to evaluate both the strengths and
weaknesses of each article).
 What are the types of
research contributions?
- To knowledge: This could be the first article to
examine ……..
- To theory: This research introduces a new theory to
the field or it tests if ….. theory is applicable to …………
context.
- To methodology: The paper aims to introduce a new
measure for ….
• To Practice: The paper aims to introduce a practical
solution to problem in practice.
 How to think about
research contributions with
your research?
You need to evaluate your research:
• Identify what is new in your research idea, objectives, questions
- Identify which research gaps your have filled
- Identify the uniqueness of your research context
- Identify the novelty of your data, sample period, variables definitions
and measurements
- Identify the novelty of your research method
- Identify the novel findings and insights vis-à-vis the existing literature
- highlight the research impact (economic, academic/research and
policy implications of your findings)
 Where do you write a
•
contribution?
Choose a title that reflects the contribution of your work.
• Show the contribution in the abstract.
• Briefly and clearly discuss the contribution in the introduction. For example,
you can say: “Consequently, the current paper seeks to make the following
contributions to the existing literature. First,…, Second,…., Third, …, Fourth,…
and so on”.
• In the literature review section – you will need to identify research gaps and
highlights the contribution of your work.
• In the theoretical/conceptual framework – you will need to highlight your
contributions (if any).
• In the methodology section – you will need to highlight the contributions (if
any) related to the context, the sample period, the data, the sample size, the
variable definitions and measurement, the method used…etc.
• In the discussion of your findings, you will need to highlight the incremental
contributions of your research and its impact.
 How do you write a contribution?
• The (primary) aim of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of …
• This study aims to contribute to this growing area of research by exploring
• The findings should make an important contribution to the field of
• It is hoped that this research will contribute to a deeper understanding of …
• Therefore, this study makes a major contribution to research on X by
demonstrating…
• There are several important areas where this study makes an original
contribution to ...
• This work contributes to existing knowledge of X by providing ...
• The findings from this study make several contributions to the current
literature. First,…
• These findings contribute in several ways to our understanding of X and
provide a basis for …
Morley (2021)
 Tips for Hypotheses Development: By reviewing the
literature, you will be able to
- Identify research gap

- Identify the contribution(s) of the study

- clarify the research problem

- clarify the research aim/objectives

- Clarify the research questions

- Understand the concepts and theories related to your topics

Ask yourself:

1. Are you familiar with the main concepts related to your research topic?
2. Are you familiar with the main theories related to your topic?
3. Did you understand the conceptual and theoretical framework related to your topic?

If yes, you will be able to develop your research hypotheses

- Is your study’s conceptual framework logically consistent and credible?
- What is the underlying theory that leads to the development of the
hypotheses?
- Consider potential mediating or moderating variables that would be
consistent with your theory
- Control variables should also be supported.

Mediator variable

Independent Dependent
variables variable

Moderator variable

Control
variables
Tasmin, R., & Muazu, H. M. (2017). Moderating Effects of Risk Management
Function on Determinants of Enterprise Risk Management Implementation in
Malaysian Oil and Gas Sector: A Conceptual Framework. Journal of Technology
Management and Business, 4(2).
 Literature Review as a
Research Method

Research Methodology and Research Methods

Research Methodology Research Methods

The concepts and theories which The tools or techniques that we use in our
underlines the chosen methods research

How the research is done?

Whether you are using qualitative or
quantitative methods or a mixture of
both? And why?
 WHAT IS A SYSTEMATIC
REVIEW?
A systematic review is a type of literature review
that uses a systematic method to collect secondary
data, critically appraise research studies, and
synthesize findings qualitatively or quantitatively.

A systematic review starts with a research question that

is broad or narrow in scope, and identify and synthesize
studies that directly relate to this question.

It is designed to provide a summary of current literature,

published and unpublished, that is “methodical,
comprehensive, transparent, and replicable”.

A systematic review is a review of a clearly formulated

question that uses systematic and reproducible method
to identify, select and critically appraise all
relevant research, and to collect and analyse data from
the studies that are included in the review.
Source:
https://libguides.brown.edu/Reviews
What is the diff erence
between a systematic review
and a meta-analysis?
A systematic review is a detailed, systematic and transparent
means of gathering, evaluating and synthesising evidence to
answer a well-defined question.

A meta-analysis is a statistical approach for combining

numerical data from multiple separate studies. A meta-analysis
should only be conducted in the manner of a systematic review.

Source: http://meta-evidence.co.uk/difference-systematic-review-meta-analysis/
 Systematic Review Steps
Phase 1: Planning a Phase 2: Conducting Phase 3: Writing and
Review a Review Reporting the
Review
- Specify research question Search and select studies - The component of the
- Develop a protocol based on defined criteria report
- Extract data - Target an appropriate
- Assess quality academic journal
- Synthese data
 Phase 1: Planning a Review Questions

- Is this review needed and what is the contribution of conducting this

review?
- What is the potential audience of this review?
- What is the specific purpose and research question(s) this review will be
addressing?
- What is an appropriate method to use of this review's specific purpose?
- What is the search strategy for this specific review?
(including search terms, databases, inclusion and exclusion criteria etc.)
 Develop a protocol
• The protocol is “a plan that helps to protect objectivity by providing
explicit descriptions of the steps to be taken” (Transfield et al. 2003,
p. 215).

• A description of the steps to be undertaken to systematically review

the literature:
- How and where studies are going to be found?
- What will be criteria for selection of studies?
- What are the methods for the analysis?

• Why do we need this protocol?

- To use as a guidance for the researcher during the review process.
- To ensure replicability (Other researchers follow the same steps and
reach the same conclusion).
 A template of a protocol
1. Purpose
2. Research question
3. Keywords
4. Synonyms
5. Search strings
Sources of articles .6
7. Inclusion criteria
8. Exclusion criteria

- - Make a reference list of relevant papers captured during your search.

- Search with and without restrictions (language, publication quality) to estimate
the number of excluded papers.
Create an effective keyword
list
• Keywords used for literature search should be clearly described with
information on their relevance to the research question.
• Example: to search for articles on forward-looking disclosure, you could use
Forward-looking reporting,
Forward-looking disclosure,
Forward-looking Information,
Future-oriented disclosure,
Future-oriented information
Future-oriented reporting
Forward-looking narrative
Forward-looking narratives
Management earnings forecasts
Managers’ earnings forecasts
Identify the target search
engines and databases
•https://ww.google.com

•https://scholar.google.co.uk

•Other databases such as:

•Emerald,
•ScienceDirect,
•IEEE Explore,
•JSTOR,
•SpringerLink,
•Wiley Online Library,
•ProQuest.
 Inclusion criteria
(1) Forward-looking disclosure is the main focus of the article.

(2) The article is published in academic journal and available online.

(3) The article is written by academic researchers (i.e., articles written by

professional researchers are excluded).

(4) The article is written in English.

(5) The article is published in the period between 2009 and 2020

(6) The article should be published in top ranked journals (e.g. 4* or 3*in ABS
or A in ABDC).
Phase 2: Conducting a Review
- Search and select studies based on defined criteria
- Extract data
- Assess quality (validation)
- Synthese data
 Phase 2: Conducting a Review
Conduct Questions
- Does the search plan developed in phase one work to produce an
appropriate sample or does it need adjustment?
- What is the practical plan for selecting articles?
- How will the search process and selection be documented?
- How will the quality of the search process and selection be assessed?

Analysis
- What type of information needs to be abstracted to fulfill the purpose
of the specific review?
- - What type of information is needed to conduct the specific analysis?
How will reviewers be trained to ensure the quality of this process?
H- ow will this process be documented and reported?
 Studies selection
1. Read the title and/or the abstract – so you will be able to reject those
articles that did not match your inclusion criteria.

2. Inclusion criteria could be the types of publication (e.g. academic or

professional publication) and/or the quality of publications (e.g. ABS rank
List or ABDC rank List).

3. Make a table of articles that you will read in details and those that will
be rejected.

4. Keep a record of why an article was included or rejected.

Example:
No. Reference Publication quality Observations
(reasons for
inclusion or
exclusion)
Apply the selection criteria
and agree on a final list of
articles
No Reference
to be reviewed
Publication quality Observations
. (reasons for
inclusion or
exclusion)

1 Hassanein, A, Zalata, A. and ABS 3* Included because it

Hussainey, K. (2019). Do forward- focuses on forward-
looking narratives affect investors’ looking narratives.
valuation of UK FTSE all-shares non-
financial firms? Review of
Quantitative Finance and
Accounting, 52 (2): 493-519.

2 Hussainey, K. and Al-Najjar, B. ABS 2* Excluded because it

(2011). Future-oriented information: is not ranked as
determinants and use. Journal of either 4* or 3*
Applied Accounting Research, 12 (2):
123-138.
 Data extraction
• Extract the data from the articles reviewed in a form of
TABLE. The table could include:

- Reference
- Objectives
- Study variables
- Main findings
- Research Gaps
 Assess quality
(Validation)
• Systematic literature reviews are subjective. So, there is
always a need to validate the review by:

1. Inter-coder reliability: We can check the reliability of the

review by inter-coder reliability (two researchers code the
same articles).
2. Avoiding bias: Researchers should avoid any bias
(publication bias, location bias, citation bias, language
bias and findings bias).
 Synthesis
• - Summarise the findings of each study and bring them together.
There are 2 approaches depending on the research question
and the type of the study:

- A narrative synthesis
• - synthesis of findings of included studies
• - explore relationships between the studies
• - Answer the question(s) in a narrative way.

• A statistical synthesis with a meta analysis (the use of the FE or

RE models to analyse the findings of the reviewed articles).
Phase 3: Writing the Review
Questions
• Are the motivation and the need for this review clearly communicated?
• What standards of reporting are appropriate for this specific review?
• What information needs to be included in the review?
• Is the level of information provided enough and appropriate to allow for
transparency so readers can judge the quality of the review?
• The results clearly presented and explained?
• Is the contribution of the review clearly communicated?
Conduct a deep analysis
of the articles
• 1. Look for explicit definitions of key terms in the literature.
• 2. Pay special attention to review articles on your topic.
• 3. Make a note on the important components of the article (research
questions; key findings …).
• 4. Look for methodological strengths and weaknesses
• 5. Identify the major trends or patterns in the results of previous studies.
• 6. Identify relationships among studies.
• 7. Note how closely each article related to your research question.
• 8. Identify gaps in the literature [Read the last two paragraphs in each
research papers]
• 9. Suggest ideas for future research.
 Writing the review
• The component of the review article:
- A title
- An abstract
- Keywords
- Introduction
- Methodology
- The findings (The answer to the research question, the
implications; gaps in the literature and suggestions for future
research)
- References
- Tables
Khaled Hussainey
Professor of Accounting and Financial Management
Portsmouth Business School
Portsmouth University
Telephone: Mobile 07727190105 Office 02392844715
Email: [email protected]