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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handouts, and all the ephemera that usually wind up in the vertical or circular file-is on the fringe, informal, unpublished, and dare I say, invisible.”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.