Grey Literature

The Pisa Declaration describes Grey Literature as:

• "A wealth of knowledge and information is produced by organizations, governments and industry, covering a wide range of subject areas and professional fields, not controlled by commercial publishing. 
• These publications, data and other materials known as grey literature, are an essential resource in scholarly communication, research, and policy making for business, industry, professional practice, and civil society.
• Grey literature is recognized as a key source of evidence, argument, innovation, and understanding in many disciplines including science, engineering, health, social sciences, education, the arts and humanities." (http://www.greynet.org/images/Pisa_Declaration,_May_2014.pdf) 

Grey literature can include:

• Technical or research reports from government agencies
• Reports from scientific research groups
• Working papers from research groups or committees
• Conference and meeting proceedings/abstracts
• Dissertations and theses
• Statistics
• Patents
• Archival materials
• Unpublished or ongoing studies
• Clinical practice guidelines not published in journals
• Informal communications with experts ... and so much more ...

                  Image: Pixabay/myrfa CC0

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