Grey literature is "Information produced on all levels of government, academics, business and industry in electronic and print formats not controlled by commercial publishing i.e. where publishing is not the primary activity of the producing body."
- As defined by the Grey Literature Network Service, 2004
Simply put, Grey Literature consists of materials that are unpublished or have been published outside of the typical commercial or academic publishing environment.
It is often more difficult to find and obtain than the published literature, and may include such things as conference procedings, policy studies and reports, white papers, annual reports, draft legislation, think-tank reports.
Public Affairs Information Service: Political Science, Criminal Justice, and Public Administration and includes journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, and publications of international agencies. Contains over 1,000,000 digitized doctoral dissertations in the humanities and social sciences. It also contains master's theses, including 4,000+ from Cal State Fullerton students, 1967-present. Citations for dissertations from around the world from 1637. NOTE: Includes the theses of Fullerton graduate students who have published through UMI Dissertation Publishing. Public Affairs Information Service: Political Science, Criminal Justice, and Public Administration and includes journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, and publications of international agencies.