Grey Literature

Grey literature papers are often written to inform funding bodies about the results of research projects, to support grant applications, to inform rapidly a scientific community, to present preliminary results at conferences or as dissertations. Such material is disseminated quickly, often in limited numbers, before or without the formal publication process. It includes information produced on all levels of government, academics, business and industry in electronic and print formats not controlled by commercial publishing

It contains a wealth of current information relating to local issues and is an important source of primary information.  This category of literature is important for studies in HIV/AIDS because so much of the very current information tends not to be published and distributed through conventional channels such as books and journals. These characteristics mean that the material is often very hard to track down and get hold of. How, then, do you find out about grey literature? In some instances it is indexed in specific databases.