This paper reviews and systematizes the empirical research on the nexus between corporate governance (CG) and investments in research and development (R&D) published in leading business, management, economics and finance journals over the past 30 years. We find that CG is key in shaping R&D investments. Moreover, the effects of both firm‐ and country‐level CG are important for both internal and external R&D investments. Drawing on our review, we welcome future studies to examine the effect of the interplay between various CG mechanisms and different types of R&D investments, and possibly identify mediating variables besides the moderating ones. Moreover, we highlight the need for future interdisciplinary studies, as well as investigations of private companies and across developing countries. Whenever causal interpretations are attempted, both sample selection and endogeneity problems should be addressed, along with testing the CG‐R&D investment nexus for nonlinear dynamics. The implications of the study for both theory and practice are also discussed.