science

Living review

Living review is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Living review rather than just read about it. In short: In academic publishing, a "living" review is a review article that is updated at intervals to reflect the latest research. Living reviews are typically published online.

Key takeaways

Living review belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Living review to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Living review from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

In academic publishing, a "living" review is a review article that is updated at intervals to reflect the latest research. Living reviews are typically published online. Unlike in a print journal, readers are notified of newer versions. While each version must be cited separately, a living review acts as version control for the state of research. For instance, the first article published in Living Reviews in Relativity was

Rovelli, C. (26 January 1998). "Loop Quantum Gravity". Living Reviews in Relativity. 1 1. arXiv:gr-qc/9710008. Bibcode:1998LRR.....1....1R. doi:10.12942/lrr-1998-1. PMC 5567241. PMID 28937180. In 2008, an updated version was produced:

Rovelli, C. (15 July 2008). "Loop Quantum Gravity". Living Reviews in Relativity. 11 5. Bibcode:2008LRR....11....5R. doi:10.12942/lrr-2008-5. PMC 5256093. PMID 28179822. The authors and titles of living reviews typically remain the same from version to version, although this is not required. The review title also typically remains the same, although developments may require title revisions to reflect the latest research, or an adjustment in the review scope. Academic journals that publish living reviews include the Living Reviews astrophysics journal series, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews in medicine.

See also Academic publishing Systematic review

References Elliott, J. H.; Turner, T.; Clavisi, O.; Thomas, J.; Higgins, J. P. T.; Mavergames, C.; Gruen, R. L. (18 February 2014). "Living Systematic Reviews: An Emerging Opportunity to Narrow the Evidence-Practice Gap". PLOS Medicine. 11 (2) e1001603. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001603. PMC 3928029. PMID 24558353. Pauli, M. (September 2012). "Living Reviews". Open Access Success Stories.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Living review

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Living review claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Living review before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Living review ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Living review

In research: Living review appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Living review in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Living review is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Academic publishing, Internet publication stubs, Literature stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Living review outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Living review in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Living review means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Living review out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Living review in simple terms?

In academic publishing, a "living" review is a review article that is updated at intervals to reflect the latest research. Living reviews are typically published online.

Why does Living review matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Living review?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Living review.