In recent years, more and more foreign scholars begin to focus on widespread academic directors in the boards of listed companies, and explore the role of academic directors in the boards and their effects on firm economic consequences. This paper reviews existing research on academic directors, including the relationship between board heterogeneity and academic directors, their functions of supervision & control, strategic decision-making and resource provision, and their effects on firm economic consequences. Then it establishes an integrative research framework of analyzing academic directors, and finally points out the characteristics of existing research and future research directions to inspire future research on academic directors in China.