Skip to main content

Table 3 Characteristics of different approaches to searching for grey literature and grey information

From: Searching and synthesising ‘grey literature’ and ‘grey information’ in public health: critical reflections on three case studies

Search method

Specific to grey literature?

Likely to find grey literature?

Specific to grey information?

Likely to find grey information?

Likely to be replicable?

Results likely to be up to date?

Easy for recipients to share?

Easy for recipients to ignore?

Searches of

        

 Databases of peer-reviewed literature

No

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

NA

NA

 Databases of grey literature

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Yes

NA

NA

 Databases of media reporting

No

Yes

No

No

Yes

Yes

NA

NA

 Relevant peer-reviewed journals

No

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

NA

NA

 Internet search engines

No

Yes

No

No

Possibly

Yes

NA

NA

 Reference and citations of included studies

No

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

NA

NA

 Other publications of authors of included studies

No

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

NA

NA

 Relevant funder and third sector websites

No

Yes

No

No

Possibly

Possibly

NA

NA

General requests for information sent to email lists, online boads, published in ‘professional press’ and distributed via Twitter

No

Yes

No

Yes

Possibly

Yes

Yes

Yes

Targeted requests sent via email to named contacts

No

Yes

No

Yes

Possibly

Yes

Yes

Possibly

  1. NA not applicable