Research Guides: Grey Literature for Health Sciences: Grey Literature in the Health Sciences

What is Grey Literature?

Grey literature is information produced outside of traditional commercial and academic publishers by governmental departments, academic institutions, businesses, and other organizations where publishing is not their primary activity.

Common Types of Grey Literature in Health Sciences:

Brochures and pamphlets
Conference papers and proceedings
Government documents and reports
NGO and advocacy organization reports
Patents
Policy statements and white papers
Preprints
Statistics and datasets
Theses and dissertations
Unpublished clinical trial data

Why Search for Grey Literature?

Grey literature can be a valuable part of a thorough literature search because:

Limited published research - There may be little information available on a topic in peer-reviewed scholarly articles
More current information - Grey literature is often more up-to-date than peer-reviewed journals due to publication lag times
Complementary perspectives - Grey literature can provide practical applications, policy context, and real-world data that complement peer-reviewed research

Selected Grey Literature Sources for the Health Sciences

AHRQ - Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US)
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ) mission is to produce evidence to make health care safer, higher quality, more accessible, equitable, and affordable, and to work within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and with other partners to make sure that the evidence is understood and used. Available resources include: Evidence-based Practice Centers (EPC) Evidence-Based Reports, Fact Sheets, Full Research Reports, Quality and Disparities Reports, Healthcare related Data, and et cetera.
Cochrane Library
The Cochrane Library is a collection of databases that contain different types of high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making. There is also another database that provides information about the Cochrane review groups (for systematic reviews found within the databases).
Non-Government Organization Search
This search engine is by the American Library Association's GODORT (Government Documents Round Table). This specialized Google search tool specifically and exclusively searches non-governmental organizations for information.
Think Tank Search
This special search tool from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government searches the websites of 600+ various think tanks and research institutes that perform research and work on advocacy for public policy.

CPG Infobase: Clinical Practice Guidelines (CA)
This database has over 1,200 Canadian clinical practice guidelines endorsed by major Canadian health and medical organizations.
ECRI Guidelines Trust
ECRI Guidelines Trust is a publicly available online repository of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines from around the world.
International Guidelines Library
Developed by the Guidelines International Network, this free library contains both published guidelines and guidelines in development from around the world focusing on health care.
NICE - National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (UK)
This database contains up-to-date policies, procedures, clinical guidelines and evidence-based recommendations for health and social care.
PubMed
To filter search results to guidelines on PubMed, click Additional Filters on the left hand side. Then, select Practice Guideline and/or Guideline from under Article Type. These filters will then be added to the other filters on left hand side of the search results page for you to use on your next search.
Trip Medical Database
Trip Medical Database, an evidence-based practice database, allows users to filter search results by US, UK, Canadian, AU or NZ guidelines. These filters will appear as clear options on the left-hand side of any search results page along with the database's other resource type filters.

Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry
The clinical trial registry for Australia, New Zealand, and other countries.
Be Part of Research
A website run by the National Institute of Health Research that covers trials being conducted in the United Kingdom.
ClinicalTrials.gov
Provides information on both US-government and privately funded research trials being conducted in all 50 states and in over 200 countries.
EU Clinical Trials Register
Provides the protocol and results of interventional trials conducted in the European Union, European Economic Area, outside the EU, and EEA linked to European medicinal development.
Health Canada's Clinical Trials Database
A clinical trial registry provided by the Canadian government.
ISRCTN Registry
A clinical trial registry recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.
NIH Clinical Center Trials
This registry covers clinical trials that are being performed at the NIH's headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland.
ScanMedicine
Launched and maintained by the UK's National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), ScanMedicine searches clinical trials from the 11 largest clinical trial registries in the world. It is still currently in beta testing.
WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform
A registry of clinical trials being operated by the World Health Organization (WHO).

DailyMed
The National Library of Medicine's database for drug labeling.
Devices@FDA
A catalog of approved medical devices by the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Drugs@FDA
Information about drugs that have been approved by the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Drug Approvals and Databases
This is a gateway resource that lists all the different drug-related databases at the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Medical Device Databases
This is another gateway resource that lists all of the different FDA medical device databases.

bioRxiv
bioRxiv is a repository of completed but unpublished manuscripts (preprints) from the biological sciences that have yet to be peer reviewed.
medRxiv
medRxiv is a repository of completed but unpublished medical and clinical manuscripts (preprints) that have yet to be peer reviewed.
OSF Preprints
OSF Preprints, hosted by the Open Science Framework, is a repository of over 2 million preprints across a wide array of subject areas.
Research Square
Research Square, owned by Springer Nature, is a preprint repository covering a variety of different subject areas.

Connecticut State Department of Public Health - Statistics and Research
A list of information and statistics on a wide range of topics provided by Connecticut's Department of Public Health.
Eurostat
The European Commission's database of European statistics.
HealthData.gov
Provides high-value and easily-discoverable health data organized by topic.
National Center for Health Statistics
National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) provides US statistics on health trends, mortality, morbidity, and communicable diseases.
OECD Health Statistics
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's database of international health data from member countries. Provides comparative statistics on healthcare systems, health spending, resources, utilization, and health outcomes across developed nations.
World Bank - Health Data
The World Bank provides a large array of health, nutrition, and population information from various nations around the world.

CDC Public Health Professionals Gateway
A comprehensive portal to CDC public health programs, resources, and initiatives. Provides access to information on disease prevention, health promotion, emergency preparedness, and public health practice guidelines.
Connecticut Department of Public Health
Connecticut's Department of Public Health provides information on state health programs, disease surveillance, vital statistics, and public health initiatives.
County Health Rankings & Roadmaps
This provides county-level health data and rankings; useful for community health assessments.
HSRProj - Health Services Research Projects in Progress
Information about ongoing health services research and public health projects in the United States.
Kaiser Family Foundation
The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) is a major non-profit organization that provides research and analysis on national health issues. Topics explored on the website include women's health policy, healthcare costs, and racial equity in health policy.

INPLASY
The International Platform of Registered Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Protocols is a database of registered systematic review protocols across health and medical disciplines. Researchers register their planned reviews to promote transparency, reduce duplication, and improve review quality.
PROSPERO
The International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews is a systematic review registry. It carries a focus on health and social care, and like INPLASY is meant to help promote research transparency and reduce research duplication and waste.

Grey Literature for Health Sciences

What is Grey Literature?

Why Search for Grey Literature?

Selected Grey Literature Sources for the Health Sciences

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