How to ethically use AI in literature review?

Issue notes from Dawid Hanak

I trust you've had a wonderful time! As I shared in the previous issue of Research Project Mastery, our session on the ethical use of AI in literature reviews, in partnership with SciSpace, was a resounding success. The overwhelming positive feedback and numerous requests for the recording are a testament to its value and impact.

I thoroughly enjoyed our previous session and am excited about the possibility of hosting more webinars in this area. If this is something that interests you, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Importantly, I did mention that I'm about to launch a research community at Motivated Academic , with the core objective of accelerating your research career. I'll be sharing more information about this over the next few weeks, but you can check it out here - Career Club and if you're interested, there is a 1-day free trial before you commit. I'm mentioning this here because SciSpace kindly agreed to transfer any potential affiliate commission into a substantial discount to my community members (>40% off the annual premium plan) and an exclusive 7-day trial. Hope this helps!

If you'd like to watch the recording of this session, you can check out my YouTube channel below.

Now onto the webinar notes!

I know that the prospect of conducting a literature review can be equally daunting for an early career researcher and experienced academic. This crucial step in the research process lays the groundwork for your project, allowing you to identify research gaps, situate your work within the existing body of knowledge, and ultimately strengthen its impact.?

However, traditional literature review methods can be tedious and time-consuming, a specialty as we experience an exponential growth in the number of papers published. This time-intensive process can leave researchers feeling overwhelmed and bogged down, hindering their ability to focus on the critical analysis and interpretation stages of their research.

This is where Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers a glimmer of hope. Personally, I believe it has the potential to revolutionise the way we approach literature reviews. By leveraging AI tools, we can streamline the search process, unearth relevant sources that might have eluded traditional methods, and gain a broader understanding of the current research landscape. This allows us to dedicate more time to the creative aspects of our work, such as formulating research questions, analysing data, and drawing insightful conclusions.

However, it's important to acknowledge the ethical considerations surrounding AI use in research. We must ensure that AI tools are employed responsibly and ethically, avoiding plagiarism or the creation of misleading or inaccurate content. By adopting a thoughtful and strategic approach, we can harness the power of AI to enhance the quality and efficiency of our literature reviews.

In this article, we'll recap our recent partner webinar with @Scispace to dig deeper into the ethical use of AI for literature reviews. We'll explore the limitations of traditional methods and showcase how AI can act as a valuable research assistant. We'll also introduce a practical framework, the FOCUS framework, that incorporates AI tools to guide you through the literature review process.?

I’m sure that by the end of this article, you'll be equipped with the knowledge and strategies to leverage AI ethically for more efficient and insightful literature reviews. Let’s start then.

Why do Literature Reviews Matter?

Literature reviews are the foundation of any robust research project. By dedicating time and effort to this crucial step, you gain a deeper understanding of your field and lay a solid foundation for your own work. Here are five key reasons why literature reviews are essential:

• Identify Research Gaps: A thorough literature review allows you to pinpoint areas where existing research is lacking. These gaps represent valuable opportunities for your own research to contribute new knowledge and insights to the field. For example, your review might reveal a specific technology or methodology that hasn't been adequately explored within a particular context. This gap becomes the springboard for your research question.
• Understand the Current State of the Art: Literature reviews provide a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge base in your research area. By familiarising yourself with the latest research findings, methodologies, and theoretical frameworks, you ensure your own work is up-to-date and builds upon existing scholarship. This not only strengthens your research but also demonstrates your awareness of the broader conversation within your field.
• Establish Context and Relevance for Your Research: Literature reviews play a vital role in contextualising your research and highlighting its significance. By demonstrating how your work relates to existing research, you establish its relevance and justify its contribution to the field. This is particularly crucial for grant proposals or research papers, where convincing reviewers of the importance of your research is key to success.
• Avoid Duplicating Past Efforts: A well-executed literature review prevents you from unwittingly repeating research that has already been done. By identifying past research endeavours, you can ensure your work builds upon them or delves into unexplored areas. This not only avoids wasting valuable time and resources but also contributes to the overall progress of knowledge within your field.
• Inform Research Methodology and Justify Research Questions: Literature reviews can guide your research design by revealing the methodologies and approaches most commonly used within your field. By analysing existing research methods and their effectiveness, you can determine the most appropriate methodology for your own project. Furthermore, literature reviews can help you refine and justify your research questions. As you delve deeper into existing research, you may encounter new angles or perspectives that strengthen your initial research question or even lead to the formulation of entirely new ones.

Benefits of Using AI in Literature Reviews: A Powerful Assistant for Researchers

While traditional literature reviews offer undeniable advantages, they can also be time-consuming as well as prone to human error and bias. This is where AI emerges as a valuable tool for researchers, as it can reduce effort and improve the quality of outputs. However, it's crucial to emphasise ethical considerations and the responsible use of AI to avoid plagiarism or the creation of misleading content. Let's explore how AI can be a powerful assistant in the literature review process:

• Expanding Your Search Horizons: Discovering Hidden Gems Beyond Traditional Methods

Traditional search strategies, often relying on keywords and established databases, can limit your ability to discover relevant sources. AI tools can delve deeper, analysing vast amounts of academic literature and identifying connections or patterns that might escape your attention. AI tools can unearth relevant research published in local, less-known journals that might not be indexed in traditional databases, providing a more comprehensive understanding of the issue.

• Gaining a Broader Perspective: Considering the Big Picture of Your Research Landscape

AI can help you move beyond individual studies and grasp the broader context of your research area. AI tools can provide a birds-eye view of the current landscape through analysis of trends, identification of key themes and the most influential research. AI can analyse the relationships between different papers, revealing debates, controversies, and emerging interpretations, offering a richer and more nuanced understanding of the event.

• Saving Time and Effort: Focusing on What Matters Most - Analysis and Interpretation

Literature reviews can be incredibly time-consuming, especially for researchers tackling broad or fast-moving fields. AI tools can significantly streamline the process by automating tedious tasks like keyword identification, source filtering, and preliminary analysis. Imagine a scientist researching a new material for solar cells. AI can scan vast databases, identify relevant studies, and extract key data points, freeing up the researcher's time to focus on critical analysis, interpretation, and drawing insightful conclusions from the data.

However, it's important to remember that AI is a tool, not a replacement for human expertise. Researchers must carefully evaluate the information provided by AI tools and exercise critical judgment when incorporating it into their work. By adopting a responsible and strategic approach, AI can be a powerful ally in conducting more efficient and insightful literature reviews.

FOCUS Framework for Effective Literature Reviews with AI

We've established the potential of AI to revolutionise literature reviews. Now, let me share the FOCUS framework that I developed during my PhD. It’s a 5-step approach designed to streamline your literature review process, and it integrates perfectly with AI tools. I want you to understand, however, that this framework is not a linear sequence; rather, it's an iterative process where each step informs and refines the others. Think of it as a dynamic loop, allowing you to continuously refine your search strategy and deepen your understanding of the research landscape.

The FOCUS Framework

Step 1 - Frame the Scope: Defining Your Research Focus

The foundation of any successful literature review is a clear understanding of your research question and objectives. Here, you'll define your research topic, timeframe, and research goals. By precisely framing your research focus, you provide direction for your AI-powered search and ensure you're gathering the most relevant information. AI tools can be particularly helpful in this initial stage. For instance, AI-powered concept mapping tools can help you visualise the relationships between different aspects of your topic, leading to a more comprehensive understanding of your research space.

Step 2 - Obtain Sources: Leveraging AI for Powerful Search Strategies

With your research focus clearly defined, it's time to identify relevant academic sources. AI tools can significantly enhance this stage by assisting you in developing effective search strategies. AI can help you refine your keywords, identify alternative search terms in the local language, and uncover relevant grey literature (unpublished reports, conference proceedings) that might not be indexed in traditional databases. AI allows us to capture a more holistic view of the research landscape.

Step 3 - Curate for Quality: Using AI to Select High-Value Sources

Having identified a wealth of potential sources, the next step involves filtering and selecting the most relevant and credible ones. AI tools can be invaluable in this curation process. I don’t think the growth in number of papers will stop any time soon, so sifting through hundreds of academic journals published every year (or even month) may be fun - at first. AI tools can analyse the abstracts and full text of these sources, identifying keywords and themes that align with your research focus. Additionally, AI-powered citation analysis tools can help you assess the impact and credibility of different sources, allowing you to prioritise the most influential and well-regarded research within your field.

Step 4 - Understand and Synthesize: Extracting Insights with AI Support

With a curated list of high-quality sources, it's time to delve deeper and extract key insights. AI tools can offer valuable support in this stage as well. It can help you analyse dozens of research papers to identify emerging trends and research gaps. AI tools can categorise sourcesby, for example,? methodology, topic, or theoretical framework, allowing you to grasp the broader structure of the research landscape. Furthermore, AI-powered text analysis tools can help you summarise key findings, identify recurring themes, and pinpoint areas where existing research is lacking. Yet, the critical assessment of the data and its quality is still your job - make sure to bring in your unique angle to the analysis!?

Step 5 - Write: Integrating AI-powered Insights into Your Research

The final step involves integrating the knowledge gained from your AI-assisted literature review into your broader research project. This doesn't involve simply copying and pasting information or asking LLM like ChatGPT to write it for you. Instead, it's about critically analysing the findings, identifying research gaps, and using them to inform your (and your fellow researchers!) research questions, methodology, and overall argument. The insights gathered from the FOCUS framework allow you to situate your research within the existing body of knowledge and demonstrate the significance of your contribution to the field.

Remember, the FOCUS framework is an iterative process. As you delve deeper into the literature, you might need to revisit earlier steps, refining your search terms or reframing your research questions based on new information. This ongoing dialogue with the research landscape is what leads to a more comprehensive and impactful research project.

The Future of Literature Reviews - A Responsible and Evolving Partnership

Now you know that you can leverage AI tools, such as SciScape, to transform literature reviews from time-consuming processes into efficient generators for insightful research. The FOCUS framework provides a practical roadmap for harnessing the power of AI while maintaining a critical and ethical approach. But remember - AI is a tool to be used responsibly, not a replacement for YOUR expertise. That’s correct. You’re behind the steering wheel and are responsible for the quality and accuracy of the final outcomes from your literature review. The future of literature reviews holds immense promise. As AI technology continues to evolve, we can expect even more sophisticated tools that can not only identify relevant sources and extract key findings but also assist with tasks like formulating research questions and synthesising complex arguments. However, it's crucial to remember that AI is here to augment, not supplant, your creativity and critical thinking. The true power lies in the synergy between your intellect and AI capabilities.?

Happy researching!?

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About the author

Dawid Hanak is a Professor of Decarbonisation of Industrial Clusters at the Net Zero Industry Innovation Centre , Teesside University. He brings the world-leading expertise in process design, techno-economic, and life-cycle assessment to drive innovation in industrial decarbonisation. He led the successful delivery of research and commercial projects in industrial decarbonisation, attracting over ￡4m of external funding. As a trusted advisor to businesses, think tanks, and public bodies, Dawid is passionate about sharing his knowledge and empowering others.

He also founded Motivated Academic, a platform where researchers, engineers, and consultants can access resources and training to advance their research and business skills.

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