Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) have mainly the objective of increasing the wealth of the shareholders of the acquiring company, by creating synergies. Regardless of the definition of a successful merger or acquisition, the realization of synergies through a proper integration is essential in creating value. Identifying and capturing synergies require their understanding, so the shareholders, who would benefit most from them, to clearly establish their expectations and to impose targets for the management. The aim of this paper is to present, using a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the scientific literature, the concepts of value creation/destruction and their quantification, the latter being made by measuring the abnormal returns (around the date of the public announcement of the M&A and after the merger completion) and the performance of the concentration (under the form of operational and financial synergies). The purpose of the paper is reached by conducting a meta-analysis of the scientific literature on mergers, acquisitions and synergy. The sample consists of 211 papers, published between 1989 and 2017, which approach the presented subjects from both a theoretical perspective and an empirical one. The analysis and classification of the literature made possible the identification of the main topics in the field (the conceptualization of mergers and acquisitions, their typology and influence factors, on a side, and, on the other side, the concepts of value creation/destruction, their conceptualization and quantification) and contributes to a future research agenda in the field. The quantitative approach allowed the evaluation of the 211 papers by specific criteria.