Gray literature is research produced by organizations outside of the traditional commercial or academic publishing and distribution channels. This could include annual reports or government reports. Gray literature may be difficult to discover, access and evaluate and resources can and often disappear. Ask a librarian for assistance if you are looking for information that falls into this category.
Selected Resources
- OSTI (Office for Scientifc and Technical Information) Provides information to Classified R&D Results, Unclassified Controlled Nuclear Information (UCNI), and Controlled Unclassified Information from the DOE.
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- ArXiv e-Print archive Covered areas include physics, mathematics, computer science, nonlinear sciences, quantitative biology and statistics. arXiv is maintained and operated by the Cornell University Library with guidance from the arXiv Scientific Advisory Board and the arXiv Sustainability Advisory Group, and with the help of numerous subject moderators.
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- DTIC Online Central resource for DoD and government-funded scientific, technical, engineering, and business related information
- OpenGrey System for Information on Grey Literature in Europe, is your open access to 700.000 bibliographical references of grey literature (paper) produced in Europe and allows you to export records and locate the documents. Contains some doctoral dissertations.
- GreyNet International's GreySource GreySource only uses web-based resources that explicitly refer to the term grey literature (or its equivalent in any language) are listed. GreySource identifies the hyperlink directly embedded in a resource, thus allowing immediate and virtual exposure to grey literature. In the process of migrating information to GreyNet is in the process of migrating entries in the GreySource Index to the GreyGuide Repository
- Grey Guide Repository GreyGuide is a Community Driven Open Resource Project. The initial goal of the project was to develop an open source repository of good practices in the field of grey literature. That which originated in monographic form would now be open and expand to include content from the international grey literature community. Such practices will range from the production and processing of grey literature through to its distribution, uses, and preservation.
Additional Resources
- HathiTrust Digital Library HathiTrust is a partnership of academic & research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world.
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- Jet Propulsion Laboratory Beacon Library, Archives, and Records Database of digital copies of JPL-authored, externally published papers and reprints
- NASA Technical Reports Server Provides access to aerospace-related citations, full-text online documents, and images and videos. The types of information include: conference papers, journal articles, meeting papers, patents, research reports, images, movies, and technical videos – scientific and technical information (STI) created or funded by NASA.
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) This collection of publications is the single official repository for official U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Engineering Regulations (ERs), Engineering Circulars (ECs), Engineering Manuals (EMs) and other official public documents originating from Headquarters USACE.
- International Nuclear Information System Repository The INIS Repository is one of the world's largest collections of published information on the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology. It offers online access to a unique repository of non-conventional literature. INIS is operated by the IAEA in collaboration with over 150 members.
- Technical Report Archive & Images (TRAIL) The Technical Report Archive & Image Library (TRAIL) identifies, acquires, catalogs, digitizes and provides unrestricted access to U.S. government agency technical reports. TRAIL currently consists of over three dozen member institutions whose annual membership fees and volunteered staff time further the efforts of the project.
- FDLP LibGuides Federal depository libraries are required to provide access to all Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) content and catalog or point to the content that is most useful to library patrons. This guide describes that content.
- National Parks Service Public Databases A wide variety of databases covering all kinds of publications for visitors and more serious researchers.
- Science Science.gov searches over 60 databases and over 2200 selected websites from 15 federal agencies, offering 200 million pages of authoritative U.S. government science information including research and development results. Science.gov is governed by the inter-agency Science.gov Alliance.