Typical questions

• • Where can I trace the latest working papers in economics?

• • Which think tanks specialise in foreign affairs?

Starting points

• • Grey literature can be defined as semi- or unpublished information not produced by commercial publishers. It includes reports, working papers, conference proceedings, theses and preprints.

• • Working papers are often useful sources of cutting edge research. In some subject areas, such as economics, they are well-established means of publishing the latest thinking before it appears in mainstream journals. Charities may use it to publish evaluations of their work. Increasingly, studies and surveys can be directly downloaded from internet sites.

• • However, as grey literature is not published by mainstream publishers, it may be difficult to trace. Recent ‘born digital’ items may not be indexed on library catalogues if they are free online. Older printed items may be listed under series rather than individual items.

• • Here are some general starting points. Refer to the subject chapters for specialist examples. There is a separate chapter on Theses and the Current Awareness chapter is often useful for those seeking the latest research.

Recommended resources

Search engines

BASE [Specialist]

www.base-search.net

Academic search engine operated by Bielefeld University Library. The advanced search form allows users to easily limit by resource type, including theses and conferences.

Gateway to Research [Specialist]

gtr.ukri.org

Maintained by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to enable researchers to get information about recently funded research projects from the UK's main research funding councils.

Google Scholar

scholar.google.co.uk

Often indexes recent free reports from organisations, governments and universities.

OpenGrey

www.opengrey.eu

Trace references to grey literature produced in Europe from the catalogues of major European research libraries and document supply centres. Focuses primarily on printed documents.

Conference papers

References to conference papers are often included in journal indexing services. Refer to the subject sections for details. Good starting points for tracing the full text include the original conference website, the website of the organisation that sponsored the conference and home pages of speakers.

Conference Proceedings Citation Index (Subscription)

clarivate.com/products/web-of-science/databases

Forms part of the Web of Science core collection. Multidisciplinary. Coverage of over 148,000 conference proceedings from 1990.