How to Write & Publish a Critical Literature Review?

Professor Khaled Hussainey Plymouth University 7th February 2014

Topics to be covered
Review of Lectures 1&2 Types of Literature Review Purpose of a critical literature review Content of a critical literature review Example from Accounting literature Publishing the literature review chapter/paper

Research idea

Search tools

Where to find new ideas?

Journal rankings

Writing the research proposal

Types of literature review *

Narrative Review Selective review of the literature that broadly covers a specific topic. Does not follow strict systematic methods to locate and synthesize articles. Utilizes exacting search strategies to make certain that the maximum extent of relevant research has been considered. Original articles are methodologically appraised and synthesized. Quantitatively combines the results of studies that are the result of a systematic literature review. Capable of performing a statistical analysis of the pooled results of relevant studies.

Systematic Review

Meta-analysis

* Evidence-based Chiropractic 4

Financial Reporting: Textual Analysis of Corporate Disclosures: A Survey of Literature Corporate Reporting Using Graphs: A Review and Synthesis Management Discussion and Analysis: A Review and Implications for Future Research The Corporate Governance Mosaic and Financial Reporting Quality Environmental Disclosure Research: Review and Synthesis A Synthesis of Cultural Studies in Accounting Accounting Narratives: A Review of Empirical Studies of Content and Readability

Earnings Management: Target Shooting: Review of Earnings Management around Earnings Benchmarks Review of Real Earnings Management Literature Auditing/Governance: A Review of Academic Literature on Internal Control Reporting Under SOX The Causes and Consequences of Auditor Switching: A Review of the Literature Non-Audit Services and Auditor Independence: A Review of the Literature Audit Quality: A Synthesis of Theory and Empirical Evidence Audit Committee Effectiveness: A Synthesis of the Empirical Audit Committee Literature Audit Firm Industry Expertise: A Review and Synthesis of the Archival Literature Review and Synthesis of Audit Structure Literature A Review of the Literature in Audit Litigation

British Accounting Review Estimating economic performance from accounting data a review and synthesis Journal of Accounting and Economics A Review of the Empirical Disclosure Literature: Discussion. Information Asymmetry, Corporate Disclosure, and the Capital Markets: A Review of the Empirical Disclosure Literature The Financial Reporting Environment: Review of the Recent Literature Accounting and Business Research Motives for disclosure and non-disclosure: A framework and review of the evidence.

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Meta-analysis is an alternative to narrative literature review and can be defined as (Green and Hall 1984, pp. 3738): . . . the use of quantitative methods to summarize and analyse research literature . . . which treats the study as the unit of analysis and is entirely based on quantitatively expressed study attributes and outcomes.

One of the advantages of using meta-analysis is that we can derive statistically strong conclusions from the collected empirical evidence. In addition, meta-analysis provides more objective results compared to traditional literature reviews. Scholars also highlight advantages of meta-analysis include stressing gaps in the literature, offering new guidelines for research, and identifying ambiguous relationships among variables (Wolf 1986). Source: Abdul Rahim et al (2014:388)

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Associations Between Corporate Characteristics and Disclosure Levels in Annual Reports: A Meta-analysis. The British

Accounting Review

Wealth effects of convertible-bond and warrant-bond offerings: a meta-analysis, European Journal of Finance Corporate Responsibility Reporting and its Determinants in Comparative Perspective a Review of the Empirical Literature and a Meta-analysis. Business Strategy and the Environment . A Meta-analysis of IFRS Adoption Effects. International Journal of Accounting An analysis (meta- and otherwise) of multinational transfer pricing research. International Journal of Accounting
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is NOT to provide a summary of everything written on a research topic

IS to review the most relevant and significant research on your topic

to help you

develop a good understanding of prior research and trends avoid repeating work already done highlight research possibilities refine your research question(s) and objectives identify research methods appropriate to these research questions
* Alan Goodacre, Stirling University

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Combine theories and ideas Evaluate prior research Draw out key points and trends (noting omissions and bias) Present in a logical way, showing relationship to own research Provide reader with necessary background knowledge to research questions and objectives Establish boundaries of own research May be critical of earlier research
* Alan Goodacre, Stirling University

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Include key academic theories Demonstrate up-to date knowledge Clear referencing: allow reader to find the original publications cited

* Alan Goodacre, Stirling University

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[Saunders et al., 2012]

refer to/assess research by recognised experts in chosen area consider/discuss research that supports and that opposes your ideas juxtapose different authors ideas make reasoned judgements about the value of others research, showing clearly how it relates to your research justify your arguments with valid evidence in a logical manner distinguish clearly between fact and opinion
* Alan Goodacre, Stirling University

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Saunders et al. (2012)

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Saunders et al. (2012)

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Description and critical analysis of what others have written How far does previous research go in answering your research questions? Literature review often in a single chapter, but key issues will be referred to again in discussion (and conclusions) (Dont just list previous research) (Start early)

* Alan Goodacre, Stirling University

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start general before narrowing down to specific research question(s) and objectives brief overview of key ideas and themes summarise, compare & contrast research of key writers narrow down to highlight prior research most relevant to your topic detailed account of findings of this research and how they are related
highlight those aspects where your research will provide fresh insights

lead reader into subsequent sections of dissertation

* Alan Goodacre, Stirling University
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The Publication Issue

Journal

Authors

Reviewer

AUTHOR GUIDELINES

Every journal published will have detailed notes and guidelines

Dear Professor [The Editor]

I am pleased to send you a paper that we wish you to consider for possible publication in .

This is an entirely new paper that represents a significant contribution to .. literature. It introduces .. Our results have not been demonstrated in any other paper.
We strongly believe that . would be the best place to publish our paper. This paper is our original unpublished work and it has not been submitted to any other journal for review.

The title of the paper is: .. Looking forward to your response in due course. Kind regards,

Response from the target journal

Decisions:

Accept
Revise and Resubmit Reject

Thank you for your invitation! Comments would be greatly appreciated

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