COVID-19 Grey Literature Resources

A Curated List of Evidence-Based Sources for Health Professionals, Librarians, and Researchers

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This report was published on April 23, 2021
To produce this report, we used a modified approach to the selection, appraisal, and synthesis of the evidence to meet decision-making needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Care has been taken to ensure the information is accurate and complete, but it should be noted that international scientific evidence about COVID-19 is changing and growing rapidly.

Cite As: COVID-19 Grey Literature Resources. A Curated List of Evidence-Based Sources for Health Professionals, Librarians, and Researchers. Ottawa: CADTH; 2021 April.

Introduction

Background

We provide Canada’s federal, provincial, and territorial health care decision-makers with credible, impartial advice and evidence-based information about the effectiveness and efficiency of drugs and other health technologies. To achieve its mandate, we produce a variety of publications that range from comprehensive systematic reviews and economic evaluations to more concise bulletins and updates.

Our Research Information Services team has compiled this COVID-19 grey literature resource list, which highlights freely accessible evidence-based sources of grey literature on this topic. Grey literature includes government information and reports that are not published commercially and that may be inaccessible via bibliographic databases.

Audience

This resource list is intended for use by health professionals, librarians, and information specialists, as well as the health technology assessment research community seeking information specific to COVID-19.

Scope

The COVID-19 grey literature resource list is organized by topic and jurisdiction. This is not an exhaustive list of COVID-19 resources. The list prioritizes resources and high-quality rapid knowledge syntheses from Canada. It will be updated regularly as new resources become available. Because of the continuously evolving nature of the internet, we cannot be held responsible for occasional inaccuracies due to website changes

How to Use

The resource list can be used to document all aspects of the search process. This includes the documentation of keywords used in the search and information about the availability of each website, as well as the use of a drop-down box beside each website to indicate the success or relevancy of the retrieval.

Use the drop-down boxes that appear beside each website in the list to indicate one of the following:

• searched; nothing found
• not searched; not relevant
• searched; results found
• results may be of peripheral interest.

Use the space below each link to document the search terms used on the individual websites listed or to make other notes.