國內外學者對於古典小說的研究，長期停留在幾部名著之上，形成嚴重失衡的現象。其實，在名著以外的小說，也極富有研究價值，不應再被忽略。一九九一年劉世德、陳慶浩、石昌渝主編的《古本小說叢刊》第三十八輯、一九九四年古本小說集成編委會編《古本小說集成》影印出版《片璧列國志》後，學界才開始得以目睹該書的內容。但是，《片璧列國志》長期以來卻沒有受到學界太多的關注。綜觀學界關於《片璧列國志》介紹與導讀性的論述，在小說來源和刊刻時間等問題上，存在比較大的歧見。論文經由不同小說與版本之間的考證，釐清《片璧列國志》的來源，其實是抄襲、拼湊自《列國志傳》、《新列國志》兩部小說，其成書時間約在南明弘光時期（1644-1645）。

Previous research on Chinese classical novels has largely focused on the study of a few famous novels; hence the knowledge in this field is heavily biased. In fact, there are many other novels, though not as well- known as the popular classics, are still worthy of scholarly study, and they should not be neglected. Pian Bi Lie Guo Zhi began to be read by academics only after its publication by the Volume 38 issue of Gu Ben Xiao Shuo Cong Kan, which was jointly edited by Liu Shide, Chen Qinghao and Shi Changyu in 1991, and Gu Ben Xiao Shuo Ji Cheng, which was edited by Gu Ben Xiao Shuo Ji Cheng Editorial Committee in 1994. However, this book has not attracted much attention, and scholarly works on Pian Bi Lie Guo Zhi are scarce. Available introductory materials written about Pian Bi Lie Guo Zhi often contain conflicting views about the source and the date of authorship of the book. Comparing various novels and different editions of Pian Bi Lie Guo Zhi, it was found that the author of Pian Bi Lie Guo Zhi plagiarised from Lie Guo Zhi Zhuan and Xin Lie Guo Zhi, and the date of authorship was approximately during the Nam Min period (1644-1645).