Gray Literature Matters:Locating Elusive and Non-Traditional Research

Elizabeth Bucciarelli

Eastern Michigan University

Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters

Annual Conference

Alma College

March 2, 2012

What is Gray Literature

Also called , ephemera, fringe, grey, or fugitive literature

“that which is produced on all levels of government, academics, business, and industry in print and electronic formats, but which is not controlled by commercial publishers.” (3rd Int’l Conf. on Grey Literature , 1997) …i.e., “where publishing is not the primary activity of the producing body.” (6th Int’l Conf. on Grey Literature , 2004)

“body of materials that cannot be found easily through conventional channels such as publishers, ‘but which is frequently original and usually recent” (Hawkins, 2008)

What is Gray Literature

“literature which is not readily available through normal book selling channels, and therefore difficult to identify and obtain” (Cordes, 2004)

“gray literature-things like pamphlets, handouts, and all the ephemera that usually wind up in the vertical or circular file-is on the fringe, informal, unpublished, and dare I say, invisible.” (Pace, 2002)

Characteristics of Gray Literature

Generally recognized as a way to distribute scientific and technical information

Publishers are considered corporate authors

Lack editorial polish

Incomplete work or mid-stage of development

Raw data

“white” literature finds an outlet in traditional publishing venues

Unorganized research

Characteristics of Gray Literature

Open and primary source of information

Missing from subject bibliographies & indexes

Distribution limited to small, targeted groups

Difficult to obtain through conventional publishing venues

Universal and ubiquitous

Key Documents in Gray Literature

Conference proceedings

Reports

Doctoral dissertations & master’s theses

Other – legal tests, working papers, lecture notes, article pre-prints

Other Formats of Gray Literature

Interviews

Fact Sheets

Newsletters

Orations

Inaugural Lectures

Call for Papers

Brochures

Leaflets

Patents

Scientific Protocols

Yearbooks

Compliance Reports

Translations

Technical Notes

Statistical SurveysTimelines

Web Pages

White Papers

Working Papers

Press Releases

Draft Reports

Speeches

Booklets

Importance of Gray Literature

Provide extremely current data, up to 12-18 months before an official publication

Primary means of distributing scientific and technical data

Research results are often more detailed in the primary source data/report

Some conference proceedings, and research, up to 66%, is never officially published

Advances in the hard and medical sciences move quickly and require a quick publishing process

Publish more small trials or trials with negative results

Importance of Gray Literature

Researchers build upon others’ research, and therefore have a great need for rapid access to cutting-edge materials

Much research generated in undeveloped countries, but researchers cannot rely on commercial publishing channels

Researchers from undeveloped countries do not have easy access to commercially published materials and rely on gray literature to understand all sides of an issue

Problems with Gray Literature Lack of controlled vocabulary

No single name or organization authority file (ResearcherID.com)

Language barriers, English materials dominate

Not formally peer reviewed

Ethical dilemmas, digital rights, and copyright

Digital space needed to preserve digital collections

Long-term archiving for print materials

Electronic search engines and web crawlers cannot always read the code in which these documents are written, therefore they are not retrieved

Many countries lack for systematic collection and access

Selective Access Points for Gray Literature

AcademyHealth - http://www.academyhealth.org/

Agricola - http://agricola.nal.usda.gov/

British Library - http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/atyourdesk/docsupply/collection/index.html

CiteSeerX – http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/

index;jsessionid=61B338A72E692C7B59C4968598C5603D

Digital repositories Energy Citations Database -

http://www.osti.gov/energycitations/

*GreyNet International, Grey Literature Network Service - http://www.greynet.org/

inSPIRE – http://inspirehep.net/

Selective Access Pointsfor Gray Literature *Internet Archive Wayback Machine -

http://www.archive.org/

Italian Grey Literature Database -http://www.bice.rm.cnr.it/letteratura_grigia_inglese.htm

National Technical Information Service (NTIS) -

http://www.ntis.gov/

New York Academy of Medicine: Grey Literature Gray Literature Report - http://www.nyam.org/library/online-resources/

*OpenDOAR - http://www.opendoar.org/

OpenSIGLE – System for Information on Grey Literature in Europe - http://www.greynet.org/opensiglerepository.html

*Science.gov

SCIRUS - http://www.scirus.com/

Selective Access Pointsfor Gray Literature

STINET - http://www.stinet.org/links.htm

Traditional databases, e.g., WoS, Dissertations & Theses Full Text from PQ

U.S. Government: Technical Reports - http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/govpubs/us/techrep.htm

U.S. Patent & Trademark Office -

http://www.uspto.gov/patents/process/search/

Virtual Technical Reports Central - http://www.lib.umd.edu/ENGIN/TechReports/Virtual-TechReports.html

Bibliography

Anderson, Byron. (2001): “Grey literature and electronic publishing.” Behavioral & Social Sciences Librarian, 19:2, 81-85.

3rd International Conference on Grey Literature, Conference Proceedings, Luxembourg, 1997.

6th International Conference on Grey Literature, Conference Proceedings, New York City, 2004.

Cordes, Ruth. (2004): “Is grey literature ever used? Using citation analysis to measure the impact of GESAMP, an international marine scientific advisory body.” Canadian Journal of Information and Library Science, 28:1, 50-69.

Hawkins, Donald T. (2008): “Gray literature: what's new on the information landscape.” Information Today, 25:2, 27-8.

Mathews, Brian S. (2004): “Gray literature: resources for locating unpublished research.” CR&L News, 65:3, 125-128.

Pace, Andrew. (2002): “Black, white, and shades of gray (literature) on the web.” Computers in Libraries, 22:4, 44-47.

Pappas, Cleo and Irene Williams. (2011): “Grey literature: its emerging importance.” Journal of Hospital Librarianship, 11:3, 228-234.

Schmidt, Karen, Wendy Allen Shelbourne, and David Steven Vess. “Approaches to selection, access, and collection development in the web world: a case study with fugitive literature.” Library Resources and Technical Services, 52:3, 184-191.

Schopfel, Joachim & Dominic J. Farace. “Grey literature.” Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2010, 2029-2039.