Structured parallel programs ought to be conceived as two separate and complementary entities: computation, which expresses the calculations in a procedural manner, and coordination, which abstracts the interaction and communication. By abstracting commonly used patterns of parallel computation, communication, and interaction, algorithmic skeletons enable programmers to code algorithms without specifying platform-dependent primitives. This article presents a literature review on algorithmic skeleton frameworks (ASKF), parallel software development environments furnishing a collection of parameterizable algorithmic skeletons, where the control flow, nesting, resource monitoring, and portability of the resulting parallel program is dictated by the ASKF as opposed to the programmer. Consequently, the ASKF can be positioned as high-level structured parallel programming enablers, as their systematic utilization permits the abstract description of programs and fosters portability by focusing on the description of the algorithmic structure rather than on its detailed implementation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.