Public Health: Grey Literature

What is grey literature?

Simply put it is:

• reports
• theses
• dissertations
• conference proceedings
• bibliographies
• market research reports
• technical reports
• statistical reports

It can be produced by hospitals, government agencies, scientific research groups and other professional committees. Grey literature is not always published in common places such as journals or books, so it is scattered across many different sources.

To the right you can find suggested sources for grey literature, but the list is ever-evolving.

Clinical trials may be abundant in published literature for your topic. However, unpublished clinical trials are considered a type of grey literature. Unpublished clinical trials have been identified as a key source for locating information on such topics as negative research results or adverse effects. Consider including clinical trials when conducting a systematic review that explores whether a medical strategy, treatment, or devise is safe and effective. Relying solely on the published medical literature to assess treatment efficacy often excludes critical evidence.

Clinical.Trials.gov includes clinical research in all 50 states and in 200 counties. Clinical.Trials.gov is both a clinical trial registry and a clinical trial results database. It includes clinical trials sponsored by the U.S. federal government and industry, as well as non-profit organizations from around the world.

www.centerwatch.com 

www.controlled-trials.com

WHO Portal: International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) Search Portal 

Consider including dissertations or theses for more focused searches, especially when there is little information on a topic or for newly emerging topics. 

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses lists dissertations accepted at accredited U.S. institutions since 1861.  

PsycINFO contains psychology and behavioral health-related content, and can be filtered by dissertation. (requires UGA single sign-on)

Government agencies, or known as ministries in some countries, can be a wealth of information that does not formally undergo the publishing or scholarly processes, but can useful in locating county statistics on things including diseases, governmental aid, and other more localized issues. Often referred to as Ministry of Health, you can search the internet by the country, region, or city name and the terms "health agency" or  "health department" and locate their websites. It can take some effort to locate the information you are looking for on the site, but it can be a fruitful exercise in locating additional information on a global health topic.

Public Health and Health Promotion

Database of Promoting Health Effectiveness Reviews (DoPHER) provides coverage of systematic and non-systematic reviews of effectiveness in health promotion and public health.

DANS EASY Archive, formerly OpenGrey, is an archived collection of research data. The Archive consists primarily of industry files and internal reports across a variety of disciplines.

Health Services/Technology Assessment Text, produced by the National Library of Medicine includes evidence reports and technology assessment from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), treatment guidelines from National Institutes of Health Consensus Conference Reports and Technology Assessment Reports, and more. 

NCBI Bookshelf, produced by the National Center for Biotechnology Information provides a searchable collection of books, reports, databases, and other scholarly literature in life sciences and health. Grey literature content includes reports from both U.S. and international governmental agencies and organizations, along with open access e-books. 

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses lists dissertations accepted at accredited U.S. institutions since 1861.  

Science.gov searches over 60 databases and over 2,200 scientific websites to provide users with access to more than 200 million pages of authoritative federal science information including research and development results

Web of Science Conference Proceedings Citation Index: includes the published literature of conferences, symposia, seminars, colloquia, workshops, and conventions in a wide range of disciplines. (must be on campus or signed onto UGA single sign-on to access via below links)

Science (CPCI-S)

Social Science & Humanities (CPSI-SSH)

Life Sciences and Biomedical

BIOSIS For the life sciences and biomedical research, you may want to try BIOSIS for pre-clinical and experimental research. Produced by the Web of Science Group, BIOSIS Previews^® an expansive index to life sciences and biomedical research from journals, meetings, books, and patents. The database covers pre-clinical and experimental research, methods and instrumentation, animal studies, and more. Includes BIOSIS indexing and enhanced MeSH disease terms

Cochrane Library database collection includes Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Cochrane Database of Methodology Reviews, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Methodology Register, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, Health Technology Assessment Database, and NHS Economic Evaluation Database. The focus is on effectiveness and appropriateness of interventions. 

Epidemiology

CDC WONDER (Wide-Ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research) includes data sets about mortality, cancer incidence, hospital discharges, AIDS, behavioral risk factors, diabetes, and other health-related topics. Grey literature content includes reports, recommendations and guidelines, statistical research data, and journal articles. 

Special Populations and Health Equity

Maternal and Child Health Digital Library, was originally produced by Welch Medical Library at Johns Hopkins University, now housed at the National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health (NCEMCH), at Georgetown University is a source for current and historical evidence on maternal and child health. Grey literature content includes reports and brochures/pamphlets, along with journal articles and books. 

Minority Health and Health Equity Archive, produced by the Center for Health Equity, University of Maryland, contains information on minority health and health disparities research and policy. Grey literature content includes reports, dissertations, and conference papers, along with journal articles and books. 

National Center for Farmworker Health Digital Library provides information on migrant and farmworker health. Grey literature content includes research reports along with journal articles and books.

Native Health Database contains bibliographic information on research related to the health and healthcare of American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Canadian First Nations. Grey literature content includes reports, community engagement projects, policy documents, guidelines, and manuals, as well as articles and books.

Global Health

Global Health Database (requires log in through UGA) contains international medical and health research and can be searched for grey literature in the filters for conference proceedings, reports, and theses.

Health Sciences and Public Health Adjacent

Grants Online Database (formerly AHRQ Gold) produced by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is a searchable database of more than six thousand grants funded by AHRQ. Can be used to identify research that has been funded but not published. 

Health Services/Technology Assessment Text, produced by the National Library of Medicine includes evidence reports and technology assessment from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), treatment guidelines from National Institutes of Health Consensus Conference Reports and Technology Assessment Reports, and more. 

NCBI Bookshelf, produced by the National Center for Biotechnology Information provides a searchable collection of books, reports, databases, and other scholarly literature in life sciences and health. Grey literature content includes reports from both U.S. and international governmental agencies and organizations, along with open access e-books. 

NIH RePorter is produced by the National Institutes of Health and is a tool for searching NIH-funded research projects and accessing publications and patents supported by NIH funding.