Information from reliable websites, such as government and state sites, can be a valuable source of information for the introductory sections of a dissertation. However, if historical or informational material needs to be included in the literature review, it should be done in moderation. Peer-reviewed journal articles are the main source of research, as they have gone through a rigorous blind review process. This process involves two to three experts in the area of research presented in the article reviewing and accepting it for publication.
The authors' names are removed to minimize any bias towards them. This review process can take up to 12 to 18 months and involve many edits back and forth between the researchers and the reviewers. In addition to peer-reviewed journal articles, other websites can also be used as a source of statistics for literature review. For instance, if you want to demonstrate why it is important to do more research on a certain topic, you can use a professional association's website to find out how many members they have.
You can also use peer-reviewed journal articles to determine the prevalence of a certain condition over a certain period of time, and then use the website of an organization related to that condition to estimate how many people might be affected by it. When conducting a literature review, it is essential to use reliable sources. Scopus and Web of Science are good databases to start with. Additionally, rigorously conducted review articles are powerful sources of information for academics and e-health professionals seeking cutting-edge evidence. Templier and Paré (201) provide detailed methodological guidelines for conducting and evaluating various types of review articles.
They suggest different scenarios for searching gray literature and resources for each scenario. When searching for literature, it is important to be transparent about the resources used. This includes recording brief information about the resource, how and when the search was performed, the approach used to detect relevant literature, and the number of relevant items saved for further evaluation. It is also important to indicate whether literature was evaluated for relevance on the basis of title, title and abstract or full text. In conclusion, web articles can be used for literature review if they come from reliable sources. Peer-reviewed journal articles should serve as a basis for reviewing your literature, while other websites can provide useful statistics.
It is important to be transparent about the resources used and follow methodological guidelines when conducting a literature review.