Grey Literature
PrePrint Repositories
Preprints are manuscripts that authors make publicly available prior to becoming a formal peer-reviewed publication. Here are some sources of preprints:
Google Advanced Search
Google can help lead you to grey literature. To make sure you are finding high-quality information, I recommend that you use Google Advanced Search. Limit your search to domain types such as .org, .gov, or .edu. Limiting your file type to PDFs will help you get to research papers and fact sheets.
Why Search Grey Literature?
"Grey literature" refers to sources of information that are not published through traditional avenues such as books, scholarly journals, or news articles. Grey literature is often featured on a government website or an organization's website and may include but are not limited to: policy papers, fact sheets, statistics, pre-print articles, clinical trials, and conference papers. These sources often supplement the research you will find from books or scholarly articles.
Search Engines & Directories of Grey Literature Producing Organizations
Clinical Trials
- Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials This link opens in a new window The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) is a highly concentrated source of reports of randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials. In addition to bibliographic details (author, title, source, year, etc) CENTRAL records often include an abstract (a summary of the article). They do not contain the full text of the article.
Dissertations
- ProQuest Dissertations & Theses This link opens in a new window This database contains indexing and abstracts of American doctoral dissertations accepted at accredited institutions since 1861 and a selection from other countries. Masters level theses are included selectively.
Practice Guidelines
Conference Presentations
- Embase This link opens in a new window Embase.com is the database equivalent of EXCERPTA MEDICA. It is a comprehensive, international database covering Anesthesiology, Human Genetics, Gerontology, Drug Research, Pharmacology, Drug Side Effects and Interactions, Toxicology, Human Medicine (Clinical and Experimental), including Pediatrics and Obstetrics & Gynecology, Basic Biological Sciences, Biotechnology, Biomedicine, Health Policy and Management, Pharmacoeconomics, Public and Occupational Health, Environmental Health, Pollution Control, Substance Dependence and Abuse, Psychiatry, Forensic Science, Alternative and Complementary Medicine, Nursing.
- CINAHL: Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature This link opens in a new window Covers journal publications from the nursing and allied health professions. While it primarily covers journal citations, it also includes book chapter abstracts, dissertations, and conference abstracts.
- WorldCat Discovery This link opens in a new window Provides access to resources owned by the Boston University Libraries or available to BU affiliates, to resources available from affiliated libraries, and to resources owned by all other WorldCat libraries. WorldCat is a worldwide union catalog created and maintained collectively by more than 9,000 member institutions. With millions of online records built from the bibliographic and ownership information of contributing libraries, it is the largest and most comprehensive database of its kind.
Health Sciences Librarian
Tips for Evaluating Grey Literature
- The AAOCDS ChecklistA checklist for evaluating Grey Literature