We hereby aim to gain a deeper insight into nucleation and growth mechanisms operating during ZIF-8 formation by resorting to the numerous published reports, which upon curation following objective criteria, were compiled into an ad-hoc data set for the application of ML tools. In doing so, time-consuming high-throughput screening of experimental synthetic conditions could be avoided, and also important, relevant, and reliable results can be highlighted for its use in applications demanding materials with particular features. Based on the analysis carried we are herein able to provide a unified road map for understanding different mechanisms operating during ZIF-8 formation under the most frequent synthetic conditions. Additionally, we were able to identify using meta-analysis the role and relative relevance of different synthetic conditions employed across literature on the size and morphology of ZIF-8 particles obtained.