Systematic Reviews for the Social Sciences

Grey literature

What is grey literature?
For a fully comprehensive systematic review search you need to include grey literature. This is especially important if you are looking to represent a global perspective in your review as sometimes research from the global south is treated as grey literature and isn't always published in prestigious journals or indexed in big commercial databases. 

"There are many definitions of grey literature, but it is usually understood to mean literature that is not formally published in sources such as books or journal articles."
Cochrane Handbook 6.2.1.8

Grey literature can cover blogs, conference materials, datasets, discussion forums, dissertations and theses, government and local government papers, interviews, market reports, newsletters, pamphlets, policy statements, pre-print articles, research reports, survey results, social media... basically anything! Here are some examples of grey literature and where to find it, but your subject librarian may be able to suggest more:

Where to find grey literature 

You can find grey literature in some databases. This is useful because you can often search them systematically using the search strategy you have designed for your systematic review. Try including some of these in your scoping searches:​

These databases include conference papers - use the filters on your search results to see what types of documents are coming up in your scoping searches. 

The ones listed below specialise in policy documents:

• Google Scholar also indexes some grey literature, but you won't be able to search it systematically. 

• Google can be really helpful when it comes to finding grey literature, but you may want to look at this guidance to make your google searching more effective.

Not everything will be available through databases, here are some other suggestions for finding grey literature:

Government Publications and Legislation

Information on the structure or policies of UK Government can be found on the GOV.UK website. For older government publications, statistics and information search the UK Government Web Archive. For Parliamentary papers, see the databases below. 

If you need information from international governments, this list of government websites might be a useful starting point. 

Publications from the Department of Health and Social Care

The Department of Health and Social Care is made up of 29 agencies and public bodies. The following produce publications, disseminate news and conduct research of interest:

The Education Policy and Research Service 

The Education Policy and Research Service (EPRS) provides a monthly digest of the latest research and policy from key government bodies, universities, and thinktanks summarised into two-page reports. UoB staff and students have access to this service, but you will need to contact your subject librarian or eprs-admin@bristol.ac.uk for an access code.

If your topic relates to education then the Digital Education Repository Archive (DERA), the National Foundation for Educational Research or Education in England could also be useful sources. 

Eurydice will help you locate information about education in Europe, while UNESCO can help you find more global information. You may also want to look at the International Bureau of Education. 

International and Multilateral Organisations

The organisations below can be useful for finding global information. Click on the i symbol to find out more about them. 

Unpublished Academic Research

This includes thesis and dissertations, but also "working papers" that have yet to be published. You can find these resources in online repositories like Explore Bristol Research or subject repositories like APSA Preprints, CrimRxiv,  EdArXiv, LawArXiv... try this list of subject specific repositories to find one covering your area of study. 

Charities

A charity is a charitable organisation set up to provide assistance to those in need. They are not-for profit organisations, usually with a specific theme such as health, education or another social, medical or economic basis. They are officially recognised (e.g. in the UK, they must be registered with and are regulated by the Charity Commission).

Some charities will commission and publish research in their area of expertise, for example:

• Barnardo's produce research about the lives of children and young people
• Mind are active in research about mental health
• Oxfam undertake research in a broad range of areas
• The Prison Reform Trust are working to create a just, humane & effective prison system
• The Health Foundation aims to enable better health and health care in the UK. 
• The Kings Fund supports research in areas of health and social care
• Women's Aid are a useful source of information about domestic violence and other forms of abuse
• YoungMinds specifically research issues around young people's mental health.

Look up charities working in the area of your interest and see if any of them have published any research.

Think tanks

The Cambridge Dictionary defines a think tank as 'a group of experts who are brought together to develop ideas and give advice on a particular subject' (Cambridge Dictionary 2020).

Whilst some think tanks are independent, others have political leanings. As always, read critically and evaluate resources to assess their suitability for inclusion in your writing. This list may help you identify think tanks operating in your area of interest.

 These are some examples of UK based think tanks:  

• The African Research Institute encourages debate, questions orthodoxy and challenges “received wisdom” in and about Africa. They seek to promote an informed, nuanced and representative understanding of the continent
• British Futures is an independent, non-partisan thinktank and registered charity, engaging people’s hopes and fears about integration and immigration, identity and race.
• Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion are a multi-disciplinary research centre exploring social disadvantage and the role of social and public policies in preventing, mitigating or exacerbating it.
• The Centre for Policy Studies is Britain’s leading centre-right think tank. Their mission is to develop a new generation of conservative thinking, built around promoting enterprise, ownership and prosperity.
• The Centre for Social Justice is an independent, award-winning organisation that puts social justice at the heart of British politics.
• Demos is Britain’s leading cross-party think tank. We put people at the heart of policy-making to create bold ideas and a more collaborative democracy.
• Ekklesia aim is to connect positive beliefs and ethics with politics. Their roots are in Christian social thought.
• The Fabian Society is an independent left-leaning think tank and a democratic membership society with over 7,000 members. They influence political and public thinking and provide a space for broad and open-minded debate.
• The Hansard Society is the UK’s leading source of independent research and advice on Parliament and parliamentary affairs.
• The Henry Jackson Society works across borders and party lines to combat extremism, advance democracy and real human rights - and make a stand in an increasingly uncertain world.
• Institute for Jewish Policy Research is the only independent institute in Britain that specialises in researching the state of contemporary Jewish communities in the UK and elsewhere in Europe.
• The Institute for Public Policy Research is the UK’s pre-eminent progressive think tank. Their purpose is to promote research and educate the public in the economic, social and political sciences and in science and technology, the voluntary sector and social enterprise, public services, and industry and commerce.
• The Joseph Rowntree Foundation works to support and speed up the transition to a more equitable and just future, free from poverty, in which people and planet can flourish.
• Policy Connect is a cross-party think tank. Their work focusses on five key policy areas which are: Education & Skills; Industry, Technology & Innovation; Sustainability; Health; and Assistive & Accessible Technology.
• Policy Exchange is the UK’s leading think tank. As an educational charity their mission is to develop and promote new policy ideas which deliver better public services, a stronger society and a more dynamic economy. Many alumni and past associates of Policy Exchange are now members of Parliament or hold key advisory positions in Government
• LSE Ideas is LSE's foreign policy think tank. Through sustained engagement with policymakers and opinion-formers, IDEAS provides a forum that informs policy debate and connects academic research with the practice of diplomacy and strategy.
• The Sutton Trust fight for social mobility from birth to the workplace so that every young person – no matter who their parents are, what school they go to, or where they live – has the chance to succeed in life.
• UCL Institute of Education ​work across education, culture, psychology and social science to create lasting and evolving change.

Please note that the descriptions of these organisations have been taken from their own sites.

Newspapers

Newspapers aren’t generally considered as grey literature sources because they are "formally published." But news sources can be helpful in assisting in the discovery of grey literature.  For example, news items may flag the latest research report or findings, record speeches, contain statistics and other data.

How to include grey literature in your systematic review

It can be difficult to find grey literature by searching systematically, so while you may find some as part of your systematic searching of databases, other grey literature will need to be recorded as studies identified "via other methods" in your PRISMA flow diagram.

Next step: Scoping Searches