Systematic Reviews for Social Sciences

Grey Literature is a field in library and Information science that deals with the production, distribution, and access to multiple document types produced on all levels of government, academia, business, and organization in electronic and print formats not controlled by commercial publishing i.e. where publishing is not the primary activity of the producing body.

Types of grey literature include theses and dissertations, conference proceedings, newsletters, reports, government documents, informal communications, translations, census data, research reports, technical reports, standards, patents, videos, clinical trials and practice guidelines, eprints, preprints, wiki articles, emails, blogs, listserv archives, and repository content.

For more recommendations of subject-specific grey literature resources beyond what is presented below, consult the USF Libraries Subject Guide most closely related to your topic.

Abstracts, poster presentations, and presented papers are considered grey literature because they may never be seen other than by those who attended the conference. However, they can be a good source of information about studies, particularly studies that never made it to publication.

• National Technical Reports Library (NTIS) 

  The NTIS serves as the largest central resource for government-funded scientific, technical, engineering, and business related information available today. For more than 60 years NTIS has assured businesses, universities, and the public timely access to approximately 3 million publications covering over 350 subject areas.