Due to the fact that online reviews are crucial to the purchasing decisions of consumers, merchants typically manipulate online reviews to increase product sales. Review manipulation is therefore becoming a hot topic in both economics and management literature. However, studies on review manipulation are still in the “pre-paradigm” stage: the research perspectives are diversified, while the topics are fragmented, and there lacks a widely accepted theoretical framework; on some key scientific issues, such as the definition, identification, and governance of review manipulation, there is no consensus. This study reviewed 363 studies published on prestigious journals. Firstly, this study redefines review manipulation by considering the evolution of its characteristic and manners. Secondly, this study builds a theoretical framework of review manipulation based on topic analysis. The framework includes six parts: the definition and identification, antecedents, consequences, mechanisms, situational factors, and intervention conditions of review manipulation. Finally, this study summarizes the limitations and controversies and proposes future research directions. Theoretically, this study advances the development of review manipulations. This study has practical implications for the government and e-commerce platforms to effectively restrain review manipulation and establish a fair online shopping environment.