Knowledge is the most important resource in software development. The success of software development relies on knowledge sharing between software developers working across the globe. Global software development has brought many benefits to the software industry; however, at the same, time knowledge sharing across diverse team members is one of the main concerns of global software development organizations. This paper provides a systematic literature review of 42 studies on knowledge sharing barriers and facilitators from 2010 to 2017 and classifies them into five main categories: Individual, Organizational, Technological, Cultural, and Geographical. In order to synthesize and represent the complexity of the knowledge sharing factors in a more manageable and visual manner, this paper proposes concept maps for each category. The identified factors can be strategically used as the guidelines in the global software development organizations to boost the culture of knowledge sharing. © 2013 IEEE.