Searching & evaluating Grey Literature
Grey literature can be difficult to find as it is often missing important information and does not have any central or organised publishing, thus a search will involve seeking out this information across many websites, repositories, and databases.
Things to remember when searching for grey literature:
- Identify organisations, group, people, communities of practice, institutions etc who are working in your area of interest. They will all have places where they will commonly post their work, for example a personal or work-related website or repository.
- Examine social media such as X (formerly Twitter) and other channels. Newly published work of interest may be mentioned there, and it will often link you to where that organisation typically hosts their work.
- Look for groups and mailing lists in your area of interest and join up to them, for example e.g. JISCMAIL is one in the library and information community.
- Search relevant databases and collections
Evaluating Grey Literature
How do I evaluate grey literature? The criteria used to evaluate grey literature are the same as those used to evaluate any other kind of information. Look closely at the source to establish authority – this should be easily located in the document. Look at the methodology used – this should be transparent, with clear explanations of where the data came from, the analysis techniques used and how the document was compiled. Check the document for currency. Use the ‘AACODS’ checklist, from Flinders University, South Australia, designed as a memory aid in evaluating grey literature: -
A - Authority
A - Accuracy
C - Coverage
O - Objectivity
D - Date
S – Significance
Searching Databases
When searching for grey literature, it is important to consider terms you might use when searching for information, especially if it’s an unfamiliar subject area and you are not familiar with terminology used in a particular area.
It is also important to document your search and record what you find and where you find it. There is a useful recording sheet created by our College Librarians, here at University of Glasgow https://edshare.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/466
The College Librarians are able to help you with advice on designing a search for grey literature in a particular subject area. Please see College Librarians to find out who to speak to.
Useful Grey Literature Resources
University of Glasgow Specific search - Will show the details of the holding at the University. This allows you to search databases you will have access to as well as other types of collections the university has.
Scopus and Web of Science index conference proceedings. [We have a University of Glasgow subscription].
BASE – Bielefeld Academic Search Engine - BASE is one of the world's biggest search engines for academic open access web resources. BASE is operated by Bielefeld University Library, in Germany.
OpenDOAR – A global Directory of Open Access Repositories hosted by JISC.
OATD (Open Access Theses and Dissertations) [open]
NDLTD (Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations) [open]
ProQuest Dissertations and Theses [full text available on subscription] – A Database of academic theses and dissertations.
UN Government Knowledgebase - A list of government portals.
UK Government Organisations – A list of UK Government department webpages. Also contains publications, reports, policies and other information.
House of Commons Parliamentary Papers [subscription]
The National Archives – Archived official documents from the UK.
WorldCat - The world's largest network of library content and services. Content includes documents and photos of local or historic significance and digital versions of rare items that aren't available to the public.
Jisc Library Hub Discover - Gives access to details of materials held in many UK national, academic and specialist libraries.
British Library - Reports, conferences and theses can be searched through the British Library Integrated Catalogue.
ERIC has reports and documents from the Institute of Education Sciences (within the US Department of Education) [available on subscription via EBSCOhost and as a free version)
Professional Development Collection has reports from the US Department of Education and the Australian Council for Educational Research [subscription]
Australian Education Index indexes government reports, research reports, teaching guides and legal/regulatory materials relating to educational trends, policy and practice. [subscription]
Charity Choice - Charity directory and fundraising website with a list of all UK registered charities.
GreyNet International - GreyNet focusses on Research, Publication, Open Access, and Education in the field of Grey Literature. Includes the resources Grey Source, The Grey Journal, and many other resources on the subject of grey literature.
OpenGrey - Previously known as OpenSIGLE, this is a multi-disciplinary collection of Grey lit produced in Europe. Includes technical/research reports, doctoral dissertations, conference papers and official publications.
Public Information Online [subscription]
ACM Digital Library - to conference information, special interest groups, interviews, recommendations and reports in the area of Computer Science.
ClinicalTrials.gov is a registry and results database of publicly and privately supported clinical studies of human participants conducted around the world. Part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Cochrane Library - Collection of six databases that contain different types of high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making plus reviews, trials, studies, podcasts and more.
IEEE Xplore - IEEE Xplore includes over 1,200 conference proceedings and more than 3,800 technical standards, as well as journals, ebooks and more.
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) - Independent organisation providing national guidance on promoting good health / preventing ill health. NICE produce clinical guidance on Public Health, Health Technologies and Clinical Practice.
Social Care Online - Information and research on all aspects of social care. Includes research briefings, reports, government documents and case studies.
Social Science Research Network - Provides rapid worldwide dissemination of social science research.
WHO ICTRP Search Portal - Aims to provide a single point of access to information about ongoing and completed clinical trials. Provided by the World Health Organisation.
Working papers (mainly in economics):
NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research) [open]
EconPapers [open]
IMF (International Monetary Fund) [open]
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository [open]
Thanks go to the University of Exeter & The University of Wolverhampton for some of this content. 