literature-review
Conduct comprehensive, systematic literature reviews using multiple academic databases (PubMed, arXiv, bioRxiv, Semantic Scholar, etc.). This skill should be used when conducting systematic literature reviews, meta-analyses, research synthesis, or comprehensive literature searches across biomedical, scientific, and technical domains. Creates professionally formatted markdown documents and PDFs with verified citations in multiple citation styles (APA, Nature, Vancouver, etc.).
npx skills add K-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills --skill literature-review --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# Literature Review ## Overview Conduct systematic, comprehensive literature reviews following rigorous academic methodology. Search multiple literature databases, synthesize findings thematically, verify all citations for accuracy, and generate professional output documents in markdown and PDF formats. This skill uses the **parallel-web skill** (`parallel-cli search`) as the primary web search tool for broad academic literature discovery, supplemented by specialized database access skills (gget, bioservices, datacommons-client). It provides specialized tools for citation verification, result aggregation, and document generation. ## When to Use This Skill Use this skill when: - Conducting a systematic literature review for research or publication - Synthesizing current knowledge on a specific topic across multiple sources - Performing meta-analysis or scoping reviews - Writing the literature review section of a research paper or thesis - Investigating the state of the art in a research domain - Identifying research gaps and future directions - Requiring verified citations and professional formatting ## Visual Enhancement with Scientific Schematics **⚠️ MANDATORY: Every literature r
- Overview
- When to Use This Skill
- Visual Enhancement with Scientific Schematics
- Core Workflow
- Best Practices
- Search Strategy
- Screening and Selection
- Synthesis
- Quality and Reproducibility
- Writing
- Common Pitfalls to Avoid
- Integration with Other Skills
- Web Search & Extraction (parallel-web skill — PRIMARY)
- Database Access Skills
python scripts/generate_schematic.py "your diagram description" -o figures/output.png parallel-cli (PRIMARY — for web search and URL extraction) curl -fsSL https://parallel.ai/install.sh | bash uv pip install requests # For citation verification For PDF generation brew install pandoc # macOS apt-get install pandoc # Linux For LaTeX (PDF generation) brew install --cask mactex # macOS apt-get install texlive-xetex # Linux
What does the literature-review skill do?
Conduct comprehensive, systematic literature reviews using multiple academic databases (PubMed, arXiv, bioRxiv, Semantic Scholar, etc.). This skill should be used when conducting systematic literature reviews, meta-analyses, research synthesis, or comprehensive literature searches across biomedical, scientific, and technical domains. Creates professionally formatted markdown documents and PDFs with verified citations in multiple citation styles (APA, Nature, Vancouver, etc.).
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add K-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills --skill literature-review --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From K-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills, a repository with 32,619 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.