In Health Studies, grey literature Includes conference proceedings; dissertations and theses; government agencies; association websites; ongoing or unpublished clinical trial data; reports and publications. It is produced by all levels of government, academia, NGOs, associations and professional organizations.
For comprehensive searching in the Health Studies, particularly when conducting a systematic review, scoping review or other review syntheses, it is important to search grey literature to:
The sources you select will be informed by your research question. Not all research questions require the use of grey literature.
Some examples of grey literature include:
Canadian
International
Statistics
Other
Below are some ways in which you can find grey literature resources for health studies:
The following resources can be searched to identify grey literature.
Contact known researchers in the field to determine if there are any ongoing or unpublished studies.
Unlike scholarly and peer-reviewed literature, grey literature does not go through a rigorous review process before it is published. For example, some NGOs can be lobby groups for corporations.
It is important to evaluate grey literature before its inclusion in your research paper or review syntheses.
Document your grey literature search including the resource name; URL; search terms, and date searched.