In this paper a post-positivist informed epistemology is used to examine the language of scholarly contribution claims in journal articles. How knowledge contribution claims are framed is important for communicating the value of research to a wide audience. Yet, guidance on this is lacking in tourism research. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol we present a systematic review of 253 adventure tourism research papers based on the contribution claims in their introductory sections. Papers were coded to five contribution strategies - incremental, differentiated-context, revelatory, replicatory and consolidatory -while highlighting the language used by authors. Our findings are of interest to researchers and editors in integrating dispersed understanding of the strategies of contribution claims into a framework for learning and action.