Grey literature comes from a wide range of producers and in a variety of publication types and is therefore available from lots of sources. Some sources may be government departments, state organisations, international organisations, societies, company websites and charitable organisations. Below you will find links to directories that you can use to find sources of grey literature in your area of interest; there are also links to Irish government websites, European Union organisations and international organisations that produce grey literature on a diverse range of topics.
A patent is a type of intellectual property right. Patents are territorial. Check national and international registries for information on patents.
Grey literature such as conference papers, dissertations, unpublished reports and working papers can be found in institutional repositories. Begin by searching repositories that focus on your subject area.
Conference Proceedings are the published record of a conference, meeting or workshop by a society or organisation. They usually include abstracts, papers and talks given at the event.
Dissertations often focus on very narrow or specific topics that have not been widely researched and may include key information that has not been formally published yet. Many dissertations are open access and can by found in institutional online repositories.
Data sets are available to search online from many public body websites.
Clinical trials are conducted before a medicinal product is authorised for use. Registries of clinical trials ensures that an internationally agreed set of information is available about each trial. This makes research more transparent and ensures that available evidence is accessible by everyone.
OpenGrey System for Information on Grey Literature in Europe, provides open access to bibliographical references of grey literature produced in Europe and allows you to export records and locate the documents. Examples of grey literature include technical or research reports, doctoral dissertations, some conference papers, some official publications, and other types of grey literature. OpenGrey covers Science, Technology, Biomedical Science, Economics, Social Science and Humanities.
