What is it about?
Most people think that all peer-reviewed research is published in journals, but as this article shows, they're wrong. In this paper, you'll learn about the scholarly record, what it comprises, and, importantly, what’s missing.
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Why is it important?
You can see further if you stand on the shoulders of giants. But what if you can't find all relevant giants? You’ll be less well-informed. This matters, especially when doing literature reviews or systematic reviews.
Perspectives
In the first half of my career as a scholarly publisher, I worked with mainstream publishers, like Elsevier, and thought that all scholarship was captured in books and journals. So, imagine my surprise when I joined the OECD and discovered a world where research is self-published by the organization for which the researcher works. This world comprises international organizations (UN, World Bank, IEA et al), NGOs and think tanks (Brookings, Chatham House, Peterson Institute, Amnesty International, Greenpeace et al) and more. There are thousands of such organizations which, together with governments and cities, publish thousands of research reports every week on their websites. Collectively this content (most of which is peer-reviewed) is called 'grey literature' and I'm now working to integrate it into the scholarly record alongside books and journals.
Toby Green
Coherent Digital LLC
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Wait! What? There’s stuff missing from the scholarly record?, Medical Writing, December 2022, European Medical Writers Association,
DOI: 10.56012/ajel9043.
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