The Literature Review: A Foundation for High-Quality Medical Education Research.
D espite a surge in published scholarship in medical education and rapid growth in journals that publish educational research, manuscript acceptance rates continue to fall. Failure to conduct a thorough, accurate, and up-to-date literature review identifying an important problem and placing the study in context is consistently identified as one of the top reasons for rejection. The purpose of this editorial is to provide a road map and practical recommendations for planning a literature review. By understanding the goals of a literature review and following a few basic processes, authors can enhance both the quality of their educational research and the likelihood of publication in the Journal of Graduate Medical Education (JGME) and in other journals.