In innovation, is it true that nothing succeeds like success?

How much does the successful performance of a project, and its innovation type (i.e. radical or incremental) influence its inclusion in a study of innovation? We looked at a set of studies published investigating product innovation. Our framework of analysis was based on three questions: (1) what was the research methodology used for the study? (2) What was the method of data analysis? (3) Were projects from different performance perspectives (success and failure) and innovation types (radical and incremental) represented? What emerged from this analysis can help the practitioner in two ways. First, through an overall look at the area, we are able to describe the ongoing patterns in the research on innovation success factors, as well as point out where there is still more work to be done. Secondly, the abbreviated framework critical analysis we propose based on the Montoya-Wiess/Calantone framework will allow the practitioner a quick way to compare "apples to apples" when looking at future studies in this area.