To carry out a thorough search of the literature, you should also identify grey literature, work that is either unpublished or has been published in non-commercial form. Grey literature is produced by charities, non-profit organisations, societies, professional associations, universities, central government and local authorities, international bodies (e.g. WHO, World Bank), think tanks, patient and consumer groups, etc.
Grey literature can include: clinical study reports, government documents, conference abstracts, organisational reports, pre-prints, regulatory documents, theses, etc.
Grey literature is not collected, stored and organised in a consistent way, and searching for grey literature can be a challenge. You will need to take a different approach to finding grey literature than when you search a database. Some of the online resources used to find grey literature have a very basic search interface.
| Resource | Scope |
|---|---|
| CityLibrary search | Finding grey literature using CityLibrary Search. |
| BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine | One of the world's largest search engines for academic web resources. It is maintained by Bielefeld University Library. Finding grey literature using BASE.. |
| CareSearch | Covers topics related to palliative care. Finding grey literature using CareSearch. |
| TRIP | Medical search engine with emphasis on evidence based medicine. |
| PsycEXTRA | Provides access to technical, annual and government reports, conference papers, newsletters, magazines, newspapers and consumer brochures covering psychology. |
Pre-print studies are studies that have been completed but have not gone through the peer-review process that most scientific journals require.
| Resource | Scope |
|---|---|
| Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) Open Research | Covers a range of health research funded by AMRC. |
| FocUS Archive | Covers ultrasound research. |
| HRB Open Research | Covers a range of health research funded by HRB. |
| JMIR Preprints | Covers research in digital health. |
| MedRxiv | Covers a broad range of health topics. |
| Nutrixiv | Covers research in food science and nutrition. |
| Preprints with The Lancet | For preprints submitted to The Lancet. |
| PsyArXiv | Covers research in psychology. |
| SSRN preprint networks | Used for sharing early stage research (preprints and working papers). You can register on the SSRN platform and subscribe to relevant networks. Registration is free. |
| Name | Scope |
|---|---|
| Care Opinion | Stories from patients. |
| Health Foundation: patient experiences | Articles, blogs, press releases and reports from the Health Foundation. |
| Health Talk Online | A-Z list of topics with videos of patients talking about their experiences. |
| Healthwatch: National Reports Library | Database of reports produced from patient feedback. |
| King's Fund: Patient Experience | Publications, press releases and blogs from the King's Fund. |
| Patient Experience Library | Reports, policy, guidance and research papers. |
| Patient Experience Network | Aimed at health professionals who wish to improve the experience of patients. Includes, blogs, case studies and reports. |
| Patient Experience Research Centre: Publications | Articles, book chapters, conference proceedings and reports. |
| Patient Voices | Patient stories through videos. |
| Patients Association | News, opinions and analysis, stories and reports. |
Help to locate trials that have not been published yet.
| Resource | Scope |
|---|---|
| ClinicalTrial.gov | Database of publicly and privately funded clinical studies conducted around the world. Published by the US National Library of Medicine. |
| International Standards Randomised Controlled Trial Number Registry | Provides details of proposed and ongoing RCTs. |
| NIHR: Be part of research | Produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Research. Used to find health and social care research in the UK. |
| ScanMedicine | Database of clinical trials and FDA-approved medical devices developed and funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). |
| UK Clinical Research Network (UKCRN) | Database of clinical research. |
| WHO: International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) | Aims to make research accessible to all those involved in health care decision making. Provided by World Health Organisation (WHO). |
| Resource | Scope |
|---|---|
| DART-Europe | Partnership of national and university libraries to improve access to European research theses. |
| EThOS | Aims to maximise visibility and availability of UK's doctoral theses. |
| Open Access Theses and Dissertations | Aims to provide access to freely available theses and dissertations. |
| ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global | Online resource available for University of London students and staff. Registration to Senate House Library required for remote access. |