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5.2.4.3 Searching for grey literature

Owned by Carolyn Phillips
Mar 26, 2024
2 min read

The first step is search grey literature databases relevant to the subject and focus of the review and could include:

  • Conference abstracts or proceedings (e.g. BIOSIS citation index, Web of Science , Scopus Proquest Conference Papers Index)

  • PhD Theses and Dissertations (e.g EtHOS, WorldCat Dissertations and Theses (OCLC, Open Access These and Dissertations,

  • Grey literature databases: (e.g . OpenGrey, Grey Literature Report (1999 – 2016), TRIP Pro)

As well as using the above sources grey literature searching also involves customised google searches, targeted websites and consultations with topic experts. The Google search can be used to locate webpages and/or documents (narrative, opinion or policy) published on the internet.  It is recommended that the first 5-10 pages of each search’s hits are reviewed, and any potentially relevant results are retained for further screening. The number of results retrieved and/or screened then need to be recorded for each search strategy used.  The Google search can also be used to identify any relevant third sector and government organisations/authorities who have published on the topic of interest. The next step would then involve browsing/searching targeted websites of the identified organisations for any potentially webpages and/or documents and to record the date of each search, the name of the website and how the search was conducted (i.e., browsing through the publications list or using a search feature). Any potentially relevant records retrieved from any of these methods will continue through to the next stage of screening. The final step in searching for grey literature is through contacting experts in the field.  Content experts may be able to recommended specific documents relevant to the research question or suggest relevant third sector and government organisations/authorities. It is important to keep a track of the records retrieved from each source of grey literature so that this information can be recorded in the PRISMA flow chart.

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