Ask a Librarian
What is Grey Literature?
Grey literature is typically unpublished or informally published works from the government, research groups, think tanks and professional associations and may include all kinds of sources, including:
- Technical reports
- Standards
- Fact sheets
- Patents
- Government reports
- White papers
- Technical specifications
- And more…
Related Guides:
Gateways and Large Collections
- arXiv This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
arXiv provides open access to over a million e-prints in the fields of computer science, economics, electrical engineering and systems science, mathematics, physics, quantitative biology, quantitative finance, and statistics. - Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) This link opens in a new window
Provides centralized access to all of Department of Defense's scientific and technical information on DoD's multidisciplinary research, development, engineering, and studies programs. The DTIC provides the general public and industry with access to unclassified, unlimited information, including many full-text downloadable documents. - NASA Technical Reports Server This link opens in a new window
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) provides access to aerospace-related citations, full-text online documents, images, and videos. Types of information included: conference papers, journal articles, meeting papers, patents, research reports, images, movies, and technical videos. - Data.gov This link opens in a new window
The home of the U.S. Government’s open data. Here you will find data, tools, and resources to conduct research, develop web and mobile applications, design data visualizations, and more. - Technical Report Archive and Image Library - TRAIL This link opens in a new window
The Technical Report Archive & Image Library (TRAIL) identifies, acquires, catalogs, digitizes and provides unrestricted access to U.S. government agency technical reports.
- Grey Source - GreyNet InternationalGreySource provides examples of grey literature to the average net-user and in so doing profiles organizations responsible for its production and/or processing.
Other Collections
- World Bank Open Data This link opens in a new window
The World Bank provides open access to sets of data about development in countries around the globe, together with other datasets cited in the data catalog. Broader access to these data allows policymakers and advocacy groups to make better-informed decisions and measure improvements more accurately. They are also valuable tools to support research by journalists, academia, and others, broadening understanding of global issues. - OAIster (OCLC) This link opens in a new window
OAIster is a union catalog of millions of records representing open access digital resources that was built by harvesting from open access collections worldwide using the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH). - OpenDOAR This link opens in a new window
OpenDOAR is the quality-assured global directory of academic open access repositories. It enables the identification, browsing and search for repositories, based on a range of features, such as location, software or type of material held.
- European Patent Office (Espacenet database)European Patent Office patent search tool with access to information about inventions and technical developments from the 19th century to the present
- Japan Platform for Patent Information
A searchable database of Japanese patent abstracts, which includes the patent number, title, inventor, company, and abstract of the patent.
Example Citations
Technical Report
National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Building and calibration of a FAST model of the SWAY prototype floating wind turbine preprint. By J.H. Koh. (NREL/CP-5000-60096). September 2013. (Conference Paper). Available at: http://purl.fdlp.gov/GPO/gpo47393; Accessed: 05/12/2014.
Patent
"Energy integrative building with ecological environmental protection" by Xudong Liu, Geng Liu, and Ziyan Liu. U.S. Patent 8,615,940 (Dec. 31, 2013). Available at: Google, Patents, http://www.google.com/patents/US8615940. Accessed: 12/09/2016.