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lit-review

Summarize academic papers, extract key findings, and identify research gaps

Install / Use

npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills --skill lit-review

Installs into whichever agent you are using.

About this skill
📄

SKILL.md

Installable skill definition

Quality Score

84/100

Supported Platforms

Universal

Our assessment of lit-review

lit-review scores 84/100 on our quality scale, 365th of 574 Content & Media skills we index.

Its SKILL.md is 3.3 KB long, well organised into 14 sections with 1 code example: a solid amount of guidance for an agent.

With 4,360 GitHub stars, it is one of the more widely adopted skills in the catalogue.

Substance
26/30
Structure
17/20
Description
12/15
Adoption
15/20
Freshness
15/15

Maintenance, license and trust

  • The repository was last updated 3 days ago, so lit-review is actively maintained.
  • No license is declared. By default that means all rights are reserved: you can read it, but reusing or redistributing it is not clearly permitted. Ask the author before building on it commercially.
  • Its trust signals score 88/100, with 1 caution from licensing, adoption, age or documentation. These come from repository metadata, not a code audit — read the skill file before letting an agent act on it.

lit-review compared with similar skills

All 4 of these similar skills score higher than lit-review; compare them before choosing.

SkillScoreStarsUpdatedFormat
lit-review (this skill)by brycewang-stanford844.4k3d agoSKILL.md
siyuanby siyuan-note10046.5ktodayMCP Server
algorithmic-artby anthropics100177.9k4d agoSKILL.md
pptxby anthropics100177.9k4d agoSKILL.md
designby nextlevelbuilder100130.2k5d agoSKILL.md

Frequently asked questions

How do I install lit-review?
Run npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills --skill lit-review. The install tabs above show the steps for each supported agent.
Which AI agents does lit-review work with?
It is written for Universal, as a SKILL.md file. Other agents that read the same format can often use it too.
Is lit-review safe to use?
It declares no license and scores 88/100 on trust signals. Skills are instructions an agent will follow, so read the file before installing it and do not approve commands you do not understand.
Is lit-review still maintained?
The repository was last updated 3 days ago, so lit-review is actively maintained.

name: lit-review description: Summarize academic papers, extract key findings, and identify research gaps

Literature Review Assistant

When the user provides a paper (PDF, URL, or description), help them systematically analyze and document it for their research.

Paper Summary Template

When summarizing a paper, extract and organize the following:

1. Basic Information

  • Citation: Authors (Year). "Title." Journal, Volume(Issue), Pages.
  • Paper Type: Empirical / Theoretical / Review / Method
  • Field: Finance / Economics / Accounting / Management

2. Research Question

  • What is the main question or hypothesis?
  • What gap in the literature does it address?

3. Data & Sample

  • Data sources: (e.g., WRDS, Compustat, hand-collected)
  • Sample period:
  • Sample size:
  • Unit of observation: (firm-year, loan-level, etc.)
  • Key filters/restrictions:

4. Methodology

  • Identification strategy: (DiD, RDD, IV, matching, etc.)
  • Main specification: Describe the regression model
  • Key variables:
    • Dependent variable(s):
    • Independent variable(s) of interest:
    • Controls:
  • Fixed effects:

5. Main Findings

  • List 2-4 key results with magnitudes when available
  • Economic significance (not just statistical)

6. Robustness & Limitations

  • What robustness checks do they perform?
  • Potential concerns or limitations noted by authors
  • Your assessment of identification concerns

7. Relevance to My Research

  • How does this relate to your current project?
  • What can you cite this paper for?
  • Any data/methods you could adopt?

Quick Commands

When the user says:

  • "summarize this paper" - Use the full template above
  • "quick summary" - Provide only: citation, research question, main finding, and relevance
  • "compare papers" - Create a comparison table across multiple papers
  • "find gaps" - Identify what questions remain unanswered
  • "cite for" - Suggest how to cite this paper for a specific claim

Comparison Table Format

When comparing multiple papers on a topic:

| Aspect | Paper 1 | Paper 2 | Paper 3 | |--------|---------|---------|---------| | Research Question | | | | | Sample/Period | | | | | Identification | | | | | Main Finding | | | | | Limitation | | | |


Literature Gap Analysis

When asked to identify gaps, consider:

  1. Unexplored settings: Are there contexts where this hasn't been studied?
  2. Mechanism: Is the channel well-identified or just a black box?
  3. Heterogeneity: Which cross-sectional variations are unexplored?
  4. External validity: Does it generalize beyond the specific sample?
  5. Time period: Are findings stable across different periods/regimes?
  6. Data limitations: What would better data reveal?

BibTeX Generation

When summarizing, also provide a BibTeX entry:

@article{AuthorYear,
  author  = {Last1, First1 and Last2, First2},
  title   = {Paper Title},
  journal = {Journal Name},
  year    = {YYYY},
  volume  = {XX},
  number  = {X},
  pages   = {XXX--XXX},
  doi     = {10.xxxx/xxxxx}
}

Notes

  • Always note if a paper is published vs. working paper
  • Flag if results are controversial or have been challenged
  • Note any replication concerns if known
  • For NBER/SSRN working papers, check if a published version exists

Related Skills

View on GitHub
GitHub Stars4.4k
CategoryContent
Updated3d ago
Forks527

Languages

Stata

Trust signals

88/100

From repository metadata: license, adoption, age and documentation. Not a code audit — see the Safety scan above for what the skill file itself contains.

1 medium