Just as important to your review as a well-developed question, is a well-constructed search strategy. To ensure that your review findings are valid and contributing to the evidence in the field, you must be reviewing relevant literature. And to find relevant literature you need to have a well-developed search strategy.
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Remember, it's recommended that an information specialist help with this step, and E/SMHS librarians are able, and happy, to assist, just fill in the form and we'll be in touch!
Grey literature
Grey literature is information produced by all levels of government, academia, business and industry in electronic and print formats not controlled by commercial publishing, and includes materials such as theses and dissertations, working papers, policy statements, technical reports and government documents.
Why is grey literature important?
For completeness. Whilst it is rarely peer-reviewed, grey literature is often a good source of the most up-to-date information on a topic. Including it in your review reduces publication bias, and it may be the only source of some data.
How do you search for grey literature?
Search for grey literature across a variety of resources including:
Clinical trials are registered in national registries to ensure transparency, reduce research waste and to enable follow up with researchers.
When searching for studies, the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions advises that multiple trial registries should be searched, including the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (accessed via the Cochrane Library).
Guidelines & tools
Clinical trials registries
