Chapter 11: Conducting a literature review

Most academics will use Publish or Perish to evaluate their own impact and make a case for tenure or promotion (see Chapter 7), to evaluate the work of other academics for a variety of purposes, ranging from publication awards to preparing for a job interview (see Chapter 8), in their function as academic administrator (See Chapter 9), to do incidental searches for journals or to decide which journal to submit their paper to (see Chapter 10).

However, Publish or Perish can also be used to do a quick literature review to identify the most cited articles and/or scholars in a particular field. Of course, it can also identify whether any research has been done in a particular area at all (useful for grant applications). Other applications are to evaluate the development of the literature in a particular topic over time. In this chapter, I will discuss some tips and tricks in doing literature reviews.

• 11.1 How to conduct a literature review search?
• 11.1.1 Worked example: Born global firms
• 11.1.2 Worked Example: Management in Russia
• 11.2 Identify key authors/journals/publications in a field
• 11.2.1 Founding fathers
• 11.2.2 Important journals
• 11.2.3 Follow up on key publications in the field
• 11.3 Development of the literature over time
• 11.3.1 Worked Example: Culture in Journal of Intl Business Studies
• 11.3.2 Worked example: HIV in Science, Nature and Cell
• 11.4 Further examples of literature review applications
• 11.4.1 Influential literature analysis
• 11.4.2 Views on alcoholism: genetic or environmental
• 11.4.3 Research planning in the US environmental protection agency
• 11.4.4 Finding literature for meta-analytical studies
• 11.5 References