review papers - anyone have experience writing/publishing them?

[anon1234]

hi everyone

 

i'm hoping to write and submit a review paper - i have no prior experience in this, so i was hoping someone could please help me out

 

i know you basically start off with a lit review, but what are the next steps? i'd just like to hear some personal experiences

 

also, a general question: are review papers typically just as hard to publish as research papers, or tougher?

 

thank you!

[Genemo]

I tend to believe it is tougher, cos a lot of the times they want famous people to write those. But not really expeirenced and I actually have thought the same thing. Hope someone could answer.

[Brainz]

they are just as hard... you need to do a thorough review and make sure your review is novel. also some journals are more selective to reviews than others, so journal selection will be important.

[LostLamb]

I almost think a review paper is harder than an experimental paper, because for an experimental paper you tailor your research to a specific point whereas a review is expected to be broader, but everything needs to tie together.

 

The important thing is that once you amass the info, you have an idea of how to compile it all and perhaps tie together studies and thoughts that have not be combined in the past, or show various viewpoints in a specific field of research but by illustrating it with the most important studies of the last 5, 10, 15, 20 years...whatever the scope of your paper.

 

It is a little like writing your intro to your thesis but 9999999x harder. The only review papers that I personally know others have gotten published (including myself) were invited reviews.

[Lactic Folly]

.. or in undergraduate research journals specifically aimed at giving students the opportunity to publish.

[Starling]

I did one (or most of one at least). My supervisor was invited though, and I think that's usually how it is with reviews. I did a bit of reading, then came up with an outline, then reads lots more and filled in the main sections, then learned enough to add subsections. Like LL said, it's a lot like writing an intro. It's just longer!

[bloh]

Many review articles are actually specifically requested by journals. Perhaps you could find some obscure journal to write a random review on a topic you yourself have never published to pad your CV, but good luck.