What is it?

Gray literature is an important source of information that consists of government, academic, and business information that is shared outside of traditional academic publishing channels. It generally isn't peer reviewed.

It includes:

• working papers or pre-prints
• government/NGO publications
• technical/industry reports
• conference proceedings/posters
• presentation slides
• newsletters
• dissertations/theses
• blog posts
• oral presentations

Why use it?

• It provides access to new ideas and perspectives.
• It allows you to broadly explore a topic and understand the less formal conversations happening around it.
• It may help counterbalance publication bias (the increased likelihood of reporting positive results).
• It may be more current than peer reviewed material, since it may not be peer reviewed and authors may be able to update it.
• It may provide a more comprehensive view of emerging research areas.
• Government agencies, non-government organization, and businesses are often important stakeholders in research issues.

"Peer review" refers to the process where researchers submit a paper they have written to a journal. The journal editor then sends the article to the author's peers, other researchers and scholars who are in the same discipline. These reviewers determine if the article should be published based on the quality of the research, including the validity of the data, the conclusions the authors' draw, and the originality of the research. While peer review is important for validating research, it also takes a great deal of time.