Types of Grey Literature
There are several different examples of grey literature spanning across several different formats. Alberani, Pietrangeli, & Mazza (1990) have noted some examples of source types, including:
- Reports
- Pre-prints
- Preliminary progress reports
- Advanced reports
- Technical reports
- Statistical reports
- Memoranda
- State-of-the-art reports
- Market research reports
- Theses/Dissertations
- Conference proceedings
- Newsletters
- Working papers
- Speeches
- Technical specifications and standards
- Non-commercial translations
- Bibliographies
- Technical and commercial documentation
- White papers
- Policy literature
- Urban plans
- Official documents not published commercially
- E.g. governmental documents not publicly available
There are several more possible formats of grey literature that take a more digital format, such as blogs, discussion forums, social media postings (e.g. tweets), wikis, etc.