Some definitions:
Scholarly Literature is original research written and published by experts in their field of study. A hallmark of scholarly literature is peer review. That means people of a similar standing have approved the work worthy of being published.
Primary Literature, Secondary Literature, Tertiary Literature
Graphic adapted from UC San Diego: http://ucsd.libguides.com/MCWP/sources
What is a review article - An article that summarizes the current state of understanding of a particular topic
Systematic Review, as the name implies, typically involves a detailed and comprehensive plan and search strategy derived a priori, with the goal of reducing bias by identifying, appraising, and synthesizing all relevant studies on a particular topic. Often, systematic reviews include a meta-analysis component which involves using statistical techniques to synthesize the data from several studies into a single quantitative estimate or summary effect size (Petticrew, M., & Roberts, H. (2008). Systematic reviews in the social sciences: A practical guide. John Wiley & Sons.
Why Reviews and Systematic Reviews are NOT primary literature. because Review articles and Systematic Reviews are Secondary literature, as the authors are not creating original work, but are sort of commenting on original work done by peers in the field.
