Grey literature
Sources of literature which may be considered unpublished, or non-standard academic literature, eg theses and technical reports. In addition, reports from government or organisations working in your field of interest which may be of the right standard for your work.
Clinical trials' information sources
Conference Proceedings: If not found in your database(s) of choice, use Web of Science Core Collections which includes Conference Proceedings Citation Indexes.
Web of Science Core Collection
| Access information: |
Access on and off campus. |
| Description: |
Citations and abstracts to millions of journal articles and conference proceedings from all subjects. Cited reference searching, Impact Factors, h-indexes and email alerts available. |
| Coverage: |
Arts & Humanities (1975 onwards), Science and Social Sciences Citation Indexes (both 1900 onwards), Conference Proceedings in Science and Social Science & Humanities (both 1990 onwards). Also: Book Citation Indexes in Science and Social Sciences & Humanities (both 2005 onwards), Current Chemical Reactions (1986 onwards), Emerging Sources Citation Index (2015 onwards), Current Chemical Reactions (1985 onwards), Index Chemicus (1993 onwards). Change "Search in:" to use: BIOSIS Citation Index (1926 onwards), Data Citation Index (1990 onwards), KCI-Korean Journal Database (1980 onwards), Russian Science Citation Index (2005 onwards), SciELO Citation Index (2002 onwards), Zoological Record (1864 onwards). |
| Help: |
Finding articles which have in their reference lists a work you found useful ('cited reference searching'): |
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Journal Citation Reports (JCR): |
Grey Literature labelled resources, for relevant publications from governmental and non-governmental as well as not for profit and other organisations.
OpenGrey
| Access information: |
Archived in OpenGrey on the DANS EASY Archive [Shutdown summer 2021] |
| Description: | Bibliographical references to European grey literature which includes, for example: technical or research reports, doctoral dissertations, some conference papers and some official publications. Operated by INIST-CNRS. |
| Coverage: | Science, technology, biomedical science, economics, social science and humanities. Europe. |
Policy Commons is a key resource
| Access Information: |
Access on and off campus. |
| Description: |
Difficult to find publications in one place, built around a directory of over 21,000 policy organisations. Provides access to 2.4 million books, articles, working papers, reports, policy briefs, data sets, tables, charts, media, case studies, and statistical publications from organisations including inter-governmental organisations, non-governmental organisations, think-tanks and other research centres. The search interface also enables searching for tables within reports. Registered users can receive alerts of material added to the database. |
Health and Medicine related
Grey Literature Report 1999-2016
| Access information: | Freely available. |
| Description: |
Bibliographic references to grey literature publications in health services research and selected urban health topics. Definition used for grey literature is that produced on all levels of government, academics, business and industry in print and electronic formats, but which is not controlled by commercial publishers. |
| Coverage: |
1999-2016. |
INVOLVE Libraries: public involvement in research
| Access information: | Freely available |
| Description: | Publications and other literature on public involvement in NHS, public health and social care research. |
| Additional information: | INVOLVE is part of, and funded by, the National Institute for Health Research. |
PROSPERO: International prospective register of systematic reviews
| Access information: | Freely available |
| Description: |
Protocol details for systematic reviews relevant to health and social care, welfare, public health, education, crime, justice, and international development, where there is a health related outcome. Systematic review protocols on PROSPERO can include any type of any study design. Reviews of reviews and reviews of methodological issues that contain at least one outcome of direct patient or clinical relevance are also accepted. |
| Additional information: | Produced by CRD and funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). |
Social Care Online
| Access information: | Free access on and off-campus. |
| Description: | UK social care information: research briefings, reports, government documents, journal articles, and websites. Produced by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE). Updated daily. |
Virtual Health Library
| Access information: | Freely available |
| Description: | Specialised, especially non-English language, databases for health research in South America. Also research from the Caribbean. MEDLINE may be searched by default. |
| Coverage: | Includes LILACS and MEDCARIB |
Newspapers
Official Publications
| Access Information: | Access on and off campus |
| Description: | This resource covers issues in the public debate through selective coverage of a wide variety of international sources including journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference papers, web content, and more. PAIS International is the current file covering 1972 to present. Topics covered include: Economic conditions, Education, Energy resources and policy, Government, Health conditions, Human rights, International Relations, Labor conditions and policy, Politics, Social conditions, Civil rights movement. |
ProQuest Congressional
| Access information: |
Access on or off campus. The Library's subscription to this resource expires 31 July 2023. |
| Description: |
ProQuest Congressional offers a comprehensive collection of congressional documents from 1789 to the present. This primary source collection offers you an opportunity to understand the present by comparing today’s events and opinions with trends and patterns throughout our nation’s history. The Library has access to the following collections through ProQuest Congressional:
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| Coverage: | 1789 - present. |
Patents
Regional journal collections, such as those below, may have academic articles you cannot find in the abstracting and indexing databases listed with the databases for your subject.
redalyc.org
| Access information: | Freely available |
| Description: | Red de Revistas Científicas de América Latina y el Caribe, España y Portugal. Specialises in science and technology, open access, research journals. Includes peer reviewed titles, published by more than 500 institutions from twenty two Ibero-American countries. |
SciELO
SciELO Citation Index via Web of Science
| Access information: |
Freely available. Access to SciELO Citation Index require a University Login. |
| Description: |
Open access collections of peer reviewed academic journals, published by institutions from Ibero-American countries and South Africa. The SciELO Citation Index via Web of Science provides another method of searching for the content on the SciELO platform - against each search result, there is a button which will link you out to the full text on the SciELO platform. |
| Access Information: | Access on and off campus |
| Description: | Full-text of technical papers, material specifications, standards, books and journals available for download, covering all fields related to mobility engineering – e.g. aerospace, automotive industries, design engineering, energy sources, fluids, fuels, propulsion, safety engineering, tests and testing, transportation, etc. Includes the SAE Cybersecurity Knowledge Hub for information related to the cyber-physical security of end to end product design, risk mitigation, training and standards. |
Standards
Theses databases
Large organisations, such as those below, may produce reports you can use.
Economist Intelligence Unit Country Reports Archive
| Access | Access on and off campus. The Library's subscription to this resource expires 31 July 2023. |
| Description | Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Country Reports Archive provides detailed coverage of political, economic, and commercial developments covering all countries from 1952 to 1995. Comprehensive quarterly overviews allow researchers to gain a thorough understanding of an event, policy, or development. In addition to the highly regarded, impartial insight from EIU researchers, each report contains tables with detailed country-level statistics downloadable to Excel. |
| Coverage | 1952-1995. |
King's Fund Publications
| Access information: | Access on and off campus. |
| Description: | London based King's Fund is an independent charitable foundation which undertakes, amongst other things, original research into the assessment of health policies. Some of its publications are freely available online. |
UNESCO Documents and Publications
| Access information: | Freely available |
| Description: | Education, social and natural science, culture and communication database of bibliographic records which also provides access to the full text of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) documents, publications, periodicals. |
| Coverage: | From 1945. |
| Additional information: | UNESCO thesaurus |
| Access information: | Freely available |
| Description: | For global economic policies. Using Documents & Reports (previously known as World Development Sources (WDS)) search and a browse the full-text of 27,000 World Bank publications: |
| Analytic & Advisory (in-depth background, strategic priorities, and direction for lending activities). | |
| Project Documents (loan documents released to the public according to the project cycle; Publications & Research (Formal publications, working papers & informal series from departments around the Bank). | |
| The Data & Research section provides access to statistics and research output, including: research briefs, policy research reports, World Bank economic classification of countries, Global Economic Prospects online. |
World Health Organization (WHO) Institutional Repository (IRIS)
| Access information: | Freely available |
| Description: | Search the entire collection of WHO publications. Access to online publications in full where available. |
| Additional information: |
WHO's Regional Offices' web pages have links to full-text of their publications, their library services and information listed under health topics: |