Skills literature-review
📚

literature-review

Low Risk ⚙️ External commands🌐 Network access📁 Filesystem access

Conduct systematic literature reviews

Also available from: davila7

Conducting literature reviews manually wastes hours searching databases and formatting citations. This skill automates systematic literature reviews by searching PubMed, arXiv, bioRxiv, and Semantic Scholar, verifying all citations, and generating professional PDFs.

Supports: Claude Codex Code(CC)
🥈 78 Silver
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Test it

Using "literature-review". Search PubMed for CRISPR sickle cell studies from 2020-2024

Expected outcome:

  • Found 47 relevant papers in PubMed
  • Top result: 'CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing for sickle cell disease' (2023) - 156 citations
  • Search saved to crispr_sickle_cell_pubmed.json
  • Use --deduplicate flag when combining with other databases

Using "literature-review". Verify citations in my literature review document

Expected outcome:

  • Total DOIs found: 23
  • Verified: 22 (95.7%)
  • Failed: 1 (DOI: 10.xxx/yyy - does not resolve)
  • Verification report saved to literature_review_citation_report.json

Security Audit

Low Risk
v4 • 1/17/2026

This literature-review skill is a legitimate academic research tool. Static analysis flagged 178 potential security issues, but all findings are false positives. The external_command patterns are documentation examples of standard academic tools (pandoc, xelatex, gget). Network requests target legitimate academic APIs (CrossRef, DOI resolution, PubMed). Filesystem operations write search results and verification reports. No malicious intent, data exfiltration, or command injection vectors detected.

8
Files scanned
2,637
Lines analyzed
3
findings
4
Total audits

Risk Factors

⚙️ External commands (1)
scripts/generate_pdf.py:46-91
🌐 Network access (1)
scripts/verify_citations.py:32-47
📁 Filesystem access (1)
scripts/search_databases.py:296
Audited by: claude View Audit History →

Quality Score

77
Architecture
100
Maintainability
87
Content
25
Community
90
Security
87
Spec Compliance

What You Can Build

Thesis literature review chapters

Conduct comprehensive literature searches for dissertation background sections with verified citations and professional formatting.

Systematic review publications

Perform systematic reviews following PRISMA guidelines with multi-database searches, deduplication, and quality assessment.

Evidence-based medicine reviews

Synthesize clinical evidence from PubMed and medical databases for treatment decisions and clinical guidelines.

Try These Prompts

Basic literature search 
Search PubMed and bioRxiv for recent papers (2020-2024) about CRISPR gene therapy for sickle cell disease. Focus on clinical trials and review articles.
Systematic review 
Perform a systematic review on the efficacy of mRNA vaccines for cancer immunotherapy. Search PubMed, bioRxiv, and arXiv. Include only peer-reviewed articles and preprints from 2018-2024.
Citation verification 
Verify all DOIs and format citations in my literature review document using APA style. Generate a verification report showing any failed citations.
Generate PDF 
Convert my literature review markdown to a PDF with Nature citation style, table of contents, and section numbering. Check that all dependencies are installed first.

Best Practices

  • Always verify citations with verify_citations.py before finalizing your review document
  • Search at least 3 different databases to ensure comprehensive literature coverage
  • Include visual elements like PRISMA flow diagrams for systematic review transparency

Avoid

  • Do not rely on a single database - this leads to incomplete literature coverage
  • Avoid study-by-study summaries - organize findings thematically instead
  • Never skip citation verification - unverified citations damage academic credibility

Frequently Asked Questions

Which databases should I search?
For biomedical topics: PubMed, bioRxiv, and Semantic Scholar. For physics and CS: arXiv and Semantic Scholar. Always use at least 3 databases.
How do I handle duplicate papers across databases?
Use the --deduplicate flag in search_databases.py. It removes duplicates by DOI first, then by title matching as a fallback.
What citation styles are supported?
APA, Nature, Vancouver, Chicago, and IEEE styles are supported. Use the --citation-style flag when generating PDFs.
Do I need to install anything?
For PDF generation, install pandoc and LaTeX. Database searches use web APIs and require no additional installation.
How does citation verification work?
The script extracts DOIs from your document, checks they resolve correctly via doi.org, retrieves metadata from CrossRef, and formats citations properly.
Can I include preprints in my review?
Yes, bioRxiv and arXiv preprints are supported. Always note that preprints are not peer-reviewed and verify findings carefully.

Developer Details

Author

K-Dense-AI

License

MIT license

Repository

https://github.com/K-Dense-AI/claude-scientific-skills/tree/main/scientific-skills/literature-review

Ref

main

File structure

📁 assets/

📄 review_template.md

📁 references/

📄 citation_styles.md

📄 database_strategies.md

📁 scripts/

📄 generate_pdf.py

📄 search_databases.py

📄 verify_citations.py

📄 SKILL.md