What is a "review article"?
Review articles summarize and synthesize the current state of the research on a particular topic. Ideally, the writer analyzes all recent literature to provide a coherent view of the state of the art. Review articles will tell you about:
- recent major advances and discoveries
- significant gaps in the research
- current debates
- who's working in a field
- ideas of where research might go next
Review articles have extensive bibliographies and are excellent ways to discover the key articles for a given topic. Unlike research articles, reviews are good places to get background on a topic, although some prior familiarity with it is expected. (For more basic background, try finding an encyclopedia article. Lists: Online | General, Print | Specialized)
Chemistry journals that publish review articles include, among many others:
- Chemical Reviews
- Accounts of Chemical Research
- Angewandte Chemie
- Chemical Society Reviews
Encyclopedias and treatises are essentially reviews too. Reviews are also found in many book series, particularly those that have titles such as Progress in ...; Advances in ...; Annual Review of ..., etc. In chemistry, major review series include Organic Reactions, Science of Synthesis, Topics in Current Chemistry, Progress in Polymer Science, Chemistry of Heterocyclic Compounds, and many others. Look for them by title in the Library Catalog.
How do I find Review Articles?
Most scientific databases provide an easy way to limit your search to reviews. Indexes usually have a "document type" field.
 In Chemical Abstracts (SciFinder): |
 In Chemical Abstracts - Student Edition: |
In Web of Science: |
- Do a search by research topic
- Click the Refine tab, then choose "Document Type"
- Select "Review"
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- Enter search terms in one search box
- Type "review" in another search box and choose the "Document Type" field for that box.
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- Enter search terms in top search box
- On next search box's menu, select "Document Type", then choose "Review" from the list provided.
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