Tips for Evaluating Grey Literature
- The AAOCDS ChecklistA checklist for evaluating Grey Literature
Grey Literature Search Tools
It can be helpful to supplement your review of journal literature with research from grey literature, which includes conference papers, presentations, and research papers found on an organization’s websites. Here are a some websites designed to help you search for Grey Literature:
- Mednar
- OpenGrey
- MedlinePus: List of organizations
- Paitent Centered Outcomes Research Institute
Find Conference Proceedings
These databases allow you to limit your search to conference proceedings.
Note: Please keep in mind that the BU Libraries may not always carry a conference paper/proceedings. If BU does not carry a particular paper, please request it through our free interlibrary loan service.
- 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.
- 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.
- Web of Science This link opens in a new window Web of Science is one of the core general science databases covering all aspects of scientific literature. It also has a number of tools that make it a unique resource for finding scholarly literature. Item records come with links both to the works cited by the paper in question and the future works that cite that paper. Web of Science also allows the user to set up email alerts for specific authors or topics, provides researcher profiles, and allows the user to search conference proceedings.
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 (PQDT) This link opens in a new windowOnline Dissertations can be an excellent source of additional references.
