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Agent skill

Literature Search Methodology

by aiming-lab in aiming-lab/AutoResearchClaw

Lays out a systematic literature review method: PICO-based search strategy, inclusion criteria, PRISMA screening, quality assessment tools and synthesis approaches.

MITAuto-check passedResearch & Science

Install Literature Search Methodology

skills CLI
$ npx skills add aiming-lab/AutoResearchClaw --skill literature-search -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install aiming-lab/AutoResearchClaw literature-search --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/aiming-lab/AutoResearchClaw.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/.claude/skills/literature-search .claude/skills/literature-search && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
literature-search
GitHub stars
15k
Token cost
~709 tokens
SKILL.md length
303 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
34
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Lays out a systematic literature review method: PICO-based search strategy, inclusion criteria, PRISMA screening, quality assessment tools and synthesis approaches.

  • Works in 6 steps: Define research question using PICO… → Identify 2-4 core concepts from the… → List synonyms, abbreviations, and… → …
  • Planning a systematic literature review
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md
  • Writing a background section grounded in a documented search

What it does

The skill is a methodology guide rather than a tool. Search design starts from a PICO research question, picks 2-4 core concepts, lists synonyms, joins terms with Boolean operators and uses at least 3 complementary databases, such as PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science for biomedicine, or arXiv, Semantic Scholar, DBLP and ACL Anthology for computer science. Exact search strings are recorded for reproducibility.

Inclusion and exclusion criteria, covering date range, language, publication type and study design, are written down before screening begins. PRISMA steps record hits per database, duplicates removed, title and abstract exclusions and full-text exclusions with reasons, ending in a flow diagram, with PRISMA-ScR for scoping reviews. Screening runs in two passes with quality tools such as the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Synthesis can be narrative, meta-analysis or gap analysis, finishing with a statement of research gaps.

When your agent uses it

  • Planning a systematic literature review
  • Writing a background section grounded in a documented search
  • Designing Boolean search strings across several databases
  • Setting inclusion criteria and a PRISMA flow diagram
  • Synthesizing findings and identifying research gaps

Example prompts

  • “Build a search strategy for a review of exercise interventions for depression using PICO.”
  • “Write Boolean search strings for transformer models in protein design across arXiv and PubMed.”
  • “Draft inclusion and exclusion criteria for my scoping review and a PRISMA-ScR flow plan.”
  • “Help me write the gap analysis for the related work section from these screened papers.”

Workflow steps

6 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Define research question using PICO framework (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome)
  2. Identify 2-4 core concepts from the research question
  3. List synonyms, abbreviations, and related terms for each concept
  4. Combine terms with Boolean operators: AND (between concepts), OR (within synonyms)
  5. Select at least 3 complementary databases relevant to the domain
  6. Document exact search strings for reproducibility

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit be4ba47. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Literature Search Methodology loads about 709 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 46 tokens; SKILL.md has 303 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~46
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~709

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from aiming-lab/AutoResearchClaw at commit be4ba47, republished under its MIT licence (© aiming-lab). 303 words, ~709 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/literature-search/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
literature-search
description
Systematic literature review methodology including search strategy, screening, and synthesis. Use when conducting literature reviews or writing background sections.
metadata.category
experiment
metadata.trigger-keywords
literature,review,systematic,PRISMA,search,database,PubMed,arXiv,citation
metadata.applicable-stages
3,4,5,6
metadata.priority
2
metadata.version
1.0
metadata.author
researchclaw
metadata.references
adapted from K-Dense-AI/claude-scientific-skills

Literature Search Best Practice

Search Strategy Design
  1. Define research question using PICO framework (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome)
  2. Identify 2-4 core concepts from the research question
  3. List synonyms, abbreviations, and related terms for each concept
  4. Combine terms with Boolean operators: AND (between concepts), OR (within synonyms)
  5. Select at least 3 complementary databases relevant to the domain:
    • Biomedical: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science
    • Computer science: arXiv, Semantic Scholar, DBLP, ACL Anthology
    • Interdisciplinary: Google Scholar, OpenAlex
  6. Document exact search strings for reproducibility
Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria
  1. Define date range (e.g., last 5-10 years for rapidly evolving fields)
  2. Specify language restrictions (typically English)
  3. Specify publication types (peer-reviewed, preprints, conference papers)
  4. Define study design requirements (RCTs, observational, computational)
  5. Set domain-specific filters (species, methodology, sample size)
  6. Document all criteria BEFORE screening begins
PRISMA Methodology
  1. Record total hits from each database before deduplication
  2. Remove duplicates and record count
  3. Screen titles and abstracts against inclusion criteria (record excluded count)
  4. Full-text review of remaining papers (record excluded with reasons)
  5. Report final included studies with PRISMA flow diagram
  6. For scoping reviews, use PRISMA-ScR extension
Screening and Quality Assessment
  1. Use two-pass screening: title/abstract first, then full text
  2. Apply quality assessment tools appropriate to study type:
    • RCTs: Cochrane Risk of Bias tool
    • Observational: Newcastle-Ottawa Scale
    • ML papers: check reproducibility, dataset validity, statistical rigor
  3. Extract data systematically using a predefined extraction form
Synthesis Approaches
  1. Narrative synthesis: Organize findings thematically, identify patterns and contradictions
  2. Meta-analysis: Pool quantitative results when studies are sufficiently homogeneous
  3. Gap analysis: Explicitly identify what is NOT covered in the literature
  4. Summarize key findings per theme with supporting citation counts
  5. Highlight conflicting results and possible explanations
  6. End with clear statement of research gaps that motivate your study

© aiming-lab, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in .claude/skills/literature-search of aiming-lab/AutoResearchClaw.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit be4ba47

Compare with similar skills

Literature Search Methodology next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Literature Search Methodology compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Literature Search Methodology this skillaiming-lab/AutoResearchClaw15k—~709Automated safety check: PassMIT
Literature ReviewK-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills48k1 repos~3.2kAutomated safety check: NotesMIT
Literature Reviewneflibata-feng/MyArxiv-Agent12620 repos~5.9kAutomated safety check: NotesMIT
Literature ReviewNorman-bury/research-writing-skill3.4k—~2.2kAutomated safety check: NotesMIT
PaperSeek Literature SearchMingfengHong/paperseek0—~1.6kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Paper Research on arXivXiaomiMiMo/MiMo-Code14k—~1.5kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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Works with

Categories

Questions about Literature Search Methodology

What does Literature Search Methodology do?

Lays out a systematic literature review method: PICO-based search strategy, inclusion criteria, PRISMA screening, quality assessment tools and synthesis approaches. The skill is a methodology guide rather than a tool. Search design starts from a PICO research question, picks 2-4 core concepts, lists synonyms, joins terms with Boolean operators and uses at least 3 complementary databases, such as PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science for biomedicine, or arXiv, Semantic Scholar, DBLP and ACL Anthology for computer science.

When should I use Literature Search Methodology?

Literature Search Methodology fits situations like: planning a systematic literature review; writing a background section grounded in a documented search; designing Boolean search strings across several databases; setting inclusion criteria and a PRISMA flow diagram.

How do I install Literature Search Methodology in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add aiming-lab/AutoResearchClaw --skill literature-search -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (.claude/skills/literature-search in aiming-lab/AutoResearchClaw) into .claude/skills/literature-search in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Literature Search Methodology in Codex?

Run `npx skills add aiming-lab/AutoResearchClaw --skill literature-search -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (.claude/skills/literature-search in aiming-lab/AutoResearchClaw) into .agents/skills/literature-search in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Literature Search Methodology in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add aiming-lab/AutoResearchClaw --skill literature-search -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/literature-search, .gemini/skills/literature-search, .github/skills/literature-search and .opencode/skills/literature-search in your project.

What does Literature Search Methodology need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Literature Search Methodology is instructions for the agent only.

Does Literature Search Methodology access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Literature Search Methodology safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Literature Search Methodology use?

Literature Search Methodology is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Literature Search Methodology use?

About 709 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 2.8k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Literature Search Methodology?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Literature Search Methodology: Literature Review (K-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills, 48k stars), Literature Review (neflibata-feng/MyArxiv-Agent, 126 stars), Literature Review (Norman-bury/research-writing-skill, 3.4k stars) and PaperSeek Literature Search (MingfengHong/paperseek, 0 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Literature Search Methodology?

aiming-lab (a GitHub organization) maintains it in aiming-lab/AutoResearchClaw, which has 14,607 GitHub stars. The repository holds 34 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on August 19, 2026.

Source: aiming-lab/AutoResearchClaw on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.