Grey Literature: Finding grey literature

Before you begin searching, it is important to know what you are searching for. Developing a search technique before you begin will save you time and help you get the best results possible. Before you begin, consider the following:

• What types of literature are you looking for, and where are you most likely to find it?
• Is the literature historical or current, and how will this effect your search strategy?
• What are the best keywords or search terms to use? (See the Search Builder below.)

Archives

• National Archives of Australia
• National Archives (UK)
• National Archives (US)
• Public Record Office Victoria

Clinical Trial Registries

• ANZCTR (Australian New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry)
• CADTH Grey Matters (Canadian, includes clinical trials & other grey literature)
• ClinicalTrials.gov (a database for clinical trials from around the world)
• International Clinical Trials Registry Platform  (World Health Organisation)
• Prospero (An international prospective register of systematic reviews based in the UK)

Conference Papers

• Informit database
• Scopus (search under 'conference')
• Web of Science

Databases

• Start with a database specific to your subject. Try author searchers or citation searches.

Patent, Standards and IP sources

• IP Australia
• SAI Global

Search Engines

• BASE (A large search engine for academic open access material).
• Google Advanced Search & Google Scholar (see below).
• Grey Matters (A search tool for searching health related grey literature).
• MedNar (A deep web search for health related information).
• ScienceResearch.com (A deep web search for science and technology).

Statistics

• Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)
• Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)
• Research Data Australia

Theses and Dissertations

• NDLTD
• OATD (Open Access Theses and Dissertations)
• Proquest dissertation & theses database

Websites

• GreyNet International
• OpenGrey
• Trove

Google and Google Scholar provide a great way to access grey literature. However, not all results will be examples of grey literature. To begin, either use Google's advanced search, or use the following search strategies in the main window.  

Searching domains

Type the word "site:"  followed by the domain you would like to search. For example, "site:.gov.au" will produce search results from the Australian Government website, or "site:.gov" will produce results from Government agencies within and also outside Australia. 

Searching country codes

Type the word "site:"  followed by the country code you would like your results from. For example "site:AU" will give you results from Australian website domains only, while "site:EU" will produce European web domain results.

Searching file types

Type the word "file:" followed by the type of file you would like the results to provide you. For example "file:pdf" will produce PDF results only. 

Searching exact phrases

Use double quotation marks around common phrases (e.g. "social media"), or around single words to tell Google that this exact word must appear in every result.