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Searching the grey literature to access research on illicit drug use, HIV and viral hepatitis: An update

This technical report is an update of the 2016 technical report by Degenhardt et al. The report outlines websites associated with various databases and organisations that could provide grey literature resources related to illicit drug use, HIV and viral hepatitis. 

What is grey literature?
Grey literature is material that is not formally published by commercial publishers or peer reviewed journals and is produced by institutions, academics, organisations, and government agencies (Auger, 1998). It includes reports, unpublished data, conference proceedings, dissertations, policy and other documents and personal correspondence (Hopewell et al., 2007).

Peer reviewed literature and grey literature sources operate in relatively separate spheres with unique information in each (Christensen et al., 2008). It is sometimes imperative to supplement information from peer reviewed literature with the information rich grey literature sources. Grey literature provides additional information not or not yet available in peer reviewed literature due to publication lag and publication bias.