About grey literature
Grey literature is defined as “information produced by all levels of government, academics, business and industry in electronic and print formats not controlled by commercial publishing”. (GreyNet)
Examples of grey literature include:
- statistics
- policy
- government reports
- conference proceedings
- unpublished theses
- brochures and newsletters
- technical reports
- patents and standards
- open source data sets
- clinical guidelines and clinical trials registers.
Grey literature sources can help you find:
- research in progress and the latest research findings and data
- information about unsuccessful studies that have not been published
- reports and policy documents that are not available in traditionally published sources
- current statistics
- local community information.
Grey literature can present alternative perspectives to your research, balance published research bias, and help identify research gaps.
Searching for grey literature
Find grey literature resources on government, industry, professional and community organisation websites and directories. Here are some suggestions:
Evaluating grey literature
Grey literature is rarely peer reviewed, so you will need to critically evaluate each source to ensure accuracy and quality.
You can use the AACODS checklist as an evaluation tool.