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Three quick tips for finding grey literature

by Lana MacEachern on 2020-07-27T08:59:00-03:00 in Clinical Research, Grey Literature, Research, Searching | 0 Comments

Sometimes the information you need can’t be found by searching a traditional database like PubMed. ‘Grey literature’ is the term used for documents produced outside of the traditional commercial publishing industry. It includes things like clinical practice guidelines, government reports, dissertations, unpublished clinical trials, policies, statistics, and conference papers or posters. 

Finding grey literature takes time and can be a daunting task. Here are three tips for finding the grey literature you need. 

1. Ask yourself, “Who is likely to produce the information I need?” This will help you determine where to search. For example, if you’re looking for policies on the appropriate use of restraints, check the websites of health districts and authorities, and large hospitals. 

If academic institutions are likely to have done research on your topic, try an institutional repository that includes literature produced by its members. Visit the Canadian Association of Research Libraries or OpenDOAR for lists of repositories. 

If you’re not sure what body might produce the information you want, check out the New York Academy of Medicine’s Grey Literature Publishers List or CADTH’s (Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health) Grey Matters: a practical tool for searching health-related grey literature to narrow it down. 

2. Use Google, but use it effectively. Google can lead you to a wealth of grey literature. Bring relevant results to the top and avoid wading through excess by giving Google very specific directions. Use the fields in Google’s Advanced Search function to limit where it searches (e.g. a specific organization’s website, or sites ending with a certain domain like .gov or .edu) or the format of documents included in the results (e.g. PDF or PowerPoint).  

You can achieve the same results by using Google ‘commands’ in front of the words you type in Google’s search box. Say you’re looking for a report on global immunization rates. You could use the search string “immunization rates” filetype:pdf site:https://www.who.int/ to tell Google to search the World Health Organization’s website (command = site:) for PDF documents (command = filetype:) on the topic.

3. Document your searches. You may have to search multiple places to find what you’re looking for. Using a checklist and tracking sheet will help you to keep track of where you’ve looked and what success you’ve had. It will also serve as a record of your search should you or someone else need to replicate it in the future. For each resource you search, make note of:

  • Its name and link/contact information
  • Its format (e.g. online repository, abstract/conference resource, clinical trial registry, etc.)
  • Details of its coverage breadth (e.g. timeframe, geography, etc.)
  • The date the search(es) was carried out
  • The total number of results retrieved 
  • The number of relevant results

Visit our Grey Literature subject guide for more tips, including starting places for searching for different types of grey literature and detailed guidance on using Google commands. As always, reach out to Library Services if you have questions. 

Lana MacEachern

Library Technician
Aberdeen Regional Hospital, Northern Zone


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