Introduction: Why AI Tools for Literature Review Are Transforming Doctoral Research The literature review remains one of the most intellectually demanding components of any doctoral project. It requires precision, critical engagement, synthesis, and the ability to navigate vast and rapidly evolving bodies of knowledge. For many PhD candidates, this stage becomes overwhelming not because of lack of ability, but because the volume of research has expanded beyond what any individual can reasonably process unaided. Across disciplines, tens of thousands of articles are published monthly. Traditional methods manual searching, downloading PDFs one by one, highlighting, summarising, and organising citations are no longer sustainable. This is where AI tools for literature review have become indispensable. As academia embraces digital transformation, AI-powered platforms provide the speed, structure, and analytical power needed to help doctoral researchers work more efficiently and critically. ...