Question

Should a researcher include articles in a literature review that are more than 10 years old?

Answer 1

A researcher should avoid including articles that are more than 10 yrs old as with the progress in science and technology, things are changing very fast that old  literature seema obsolete in drawing any conclusion. There is change in type of diseases that are prevalent nowadays to those in past. Moreover treatment modalities have change a lot over such a period of time. Peoples’ attitudes and vallues have changed. So taking into consideration all these points, a researcher should avoid taking old literature in review.

in case the study is historical then such old literature can be picked up as one tries to find the evolution of current practice.

therefore it basically depends on the type of study to accept or reject such old literature.