What's the difference between a narrative review, a literature review, and a knowledge synthesis?
Answer
A literature review can mean different things depending on who you ask. It has been used as an all-in-one term for any article that gathers and synthesizes information from more than one source. You may have seen literature review sections in articles that you've read, where the author summarizes what is already known about a topic. Generally, a literature review uses a combination of summary and synthesis to present information about a topic.
Narrative reviews are not as comprehensive as systematic reviews or other types of knowledge syntheses. They are generally conducted by experts in the field to provide an overview of the current literature and identify gaps in the literature. Unlike a systematic review, a narrative review does not require a clearly defined research question, does not follow explicit methodology, and does not call for a comprehensive search strategy.
Knowledge synthesis is a term that encompasses different reviews such as scoping reviews, umbrella reviews, systematic reviews, etc.