For the most part, grey literature can be used in the same way as scholarly literature: by setting a foundation on which other types of research can be conducted. Examples of Grey Literature Examples of grey literature include: conference abstracts
Should conference abstracts be included in the abstracts of conferences?
Arguments against including conference abstracts are that (1) searching for abstracts is resource-intensive, (2) abstracts may not contain adequate information, and (3) the information in abstracts may not be dependable.
What is grey literature in research?
Grey literature, or evidence not published in commercial publications, can make important contributions to a systematic review. Grey literature can include academic papers, including theses and dissertations, research and committee reports, government reports, conference papers, and ongoing research, among others.
Does the inclusion of gray literature in meta-analyses change results?
Evidence from a recent systematic review indicates that the inclusion of gray literature (defined more broadly than just conference abstracts) in meta-analyses may change the results from significant to non-significant or from non-significant to significant, or may not change the results [ 24, 33 ].
Does grey literature reduce publication bias?
Grey literature may thusly reduce publication bias, increase reviews’ comprehensiveness and timeliness and foster a balanced picture of available evidence. Grey literature’s diverse formats and audiences can present a significant challenge in a systematic search for evidence.
Are conference abstracts considered publications?
In one word, no. Abstracts are not peer-reviewed publications, and don’t contain enough information to be evaluated as such.
Is conference proceeding a piece of literature?
The “literature” that is reviewed is the collection of publications (academic journal articles, books, conference proceedings, association papers, dissertations, etc) written by scholars and researchers for scholars and researchers.
Can conference paper be used in literature review?
Conferences do not usually accept literature review manuscripts or review articles for publishing in their conference proceedings. However, some conferences do allow publication of review articles as a poster. Alternatively, you can also request for a plenary discussion for your review article at the conference.
Are conference abstracts included in systematic reviews?
While identifying and cataloging unpublished studies from conference proceedings is generally recognized as a good practice during systematic reviews, controversy remains whether to include study results that are reported in conference abstracts. Existing guidelines provide conflicting recommendations.
What is conference literature?
Conference literature — the papers and abstracts stemming from professional meetings in science and other academic fields — is becoming increasingly important in academia. There are three main reasons for the importance of this unique genre. First, it is a valuable tool for disseminating information.
Do conference papers count as publications?
yes, it’s a publication. It is not exactly the same kind of publication as a journal publication, and depending on the field it may be viewed as less or more important than a journal publication, but it still counts as a publication.
How do you review a conference abstract?
Abstract Review GuidelinesIs the question or issue clearly stated?Is the significance of the work clearly stated? … If relevant, are the method, data collection, and analysis procedures well-designed and appropriate to the question addressed?Is the conceptual framework coherent? … Is the work original?More items…
What is a conference abstract?
Typically, an abstract describes the topic you would like to present at the conference, highlighting your argument, evidence and contribution to the historical literature. It is usually restricted to 250-500 words.
Does PubMed include conference abstracts?
Not every database includes conference abstracts, so if you are only searching PubMed you will not find them, as PubMed does not typically index conferences (including conference papers, posters, presentations, etc.).
Are conference proceedings peer-reviewed?
The papers presented at a conference have typically been accepted following a review process, however, not all published proceedings are peer reviewed so it is important to assess the quality of the conference. Criteria to consider: Impact of previous papers (through citation counts)
Do Cochrane reviews contain abstracts?
All full reviews must include an abstract of not more than 400 words. The abstract should be kept as brief as possible without sacrificing important content. Abstracts to Cochrane reviews are published in MEDLINE and the Science Citation Index, and are made freely available on the internet.
Which database’s contain conference abstracts and proceedings?
Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database, including peer-reviewed titles from international publishers, Open Access journals, conference proceedings, trade publications, and quality web sources.
How the conference proceedings are considered?
Definition. A conference proceeding is the published record of a conference, congress, symposium, or other meeting sponsored by a society or association, usually but not necessarily including abstracts or reports of papers presented by the participants.
What is conference proceedings in research?
Conference proceedings are a collection of abstracts and papers presented at conferences. They often present preliminary research findings and the full results may be published in a journal some time later. Not all conferences publish proceedings.
Is conference proceedings a journal?
The key difference between a journal and a conference paper is that a journal paper is a longer piece of writing which has a definite structure and is published in journals, whereas a conference paper is generally a short and a more precise paper that is presented at a conference.
Is conference paper a research paper?
The key difference between journal and conference paper is that a journal article is a long piece of writing that is published in journals and periodicals, whereas a conference paper is a concise and precise written paper that is presented in research conferences.
What is grey literature?
Grey literature, or evidence not published in commercial publications, can make important contributions to a systematic review. Grey literature can include academic papers, including theses and dissertations, research and committee reports, government reports, conference papers, and ongoing research, among others.
How does grey literature help?
Grey literature may thusly reduce publication bias, increase reviews’ comprehensiveness and timeliness and foster a balanced picture of available evidence. Grey literature’s diverse formats and audiences can present a significant challenge in a systematic search for evidence.
What is systematic review?
Systematic reviews aid the analysis and dissemination of evidence, using rigorous and transparent methods to generate empirically attained answers to focused research questions. Identifying all evidence relevant to the research questions is an essential component, and challenge, of systematic reviews. Grey literature, or evidence not published in …
Why search for conferences?
Conference abstracts and proceedings can potentially point you to relevant trials and research, identify the latest research trends, and provide useful information not reported elsewhere.
Finding conferences, abstracts and proceedings
When you are developing your search strategy for conference materials, remember that you will need to record and report how you searched, where you searched, and what you found.
Why Search for Meeting Abstracts?
“Less than half of all studies, and about 60% of randomized or controlled clinical trials,initially presented as summaries or abstracts at professional meetings are subsequently published as peer-reviewed journal articles.”¹
Searching for Meeting abstracts and Conference Proceedings
Many conference proceedings, meeting abstracts, and symposia are published in journal supplements. These supplements are generally not indexed in PubMed so you need to search other places to find them.
Places to Find Meeting Abstracts & Conference Proceedings
Find meeting abstracts published in BMC journals and the BMC meeting abstracts service.
What is grey literature?
There are many definitions of grey literature, but it is usually understood to mean literature that is not formally published in sources such as books or journal articles. Conference abstracts and other grey literature have been shown to be sources of approximately 10% of the studies referenced in Cochrane reviews (Mallett 2002).
What is psycextra database?
PsycEXTRA is a companion database to PsycINFO in psychology, behavioural science and health. It includes references from newsletters, magazines, newspapers, technical and annual reports, government reports and consumer brochures.
Is the database a good source of grey literature?
The database is considered to be a good source of grey literature on topic s such as health and community care management, organizational development, inequalities in health, user involvement, and race and health.
Is psycextra the same as psycinfo?
PsycEXTRA is different from PsycINFO in its format, because it includes abstracts and citations plus full text for a major portion of the records. There is no coverage overlap with PsycINFO. o www.apa.org/psycextra/.
What is Grey Literature?
“Gray literature…refers to informally published written material (such as reports) that may be difficult to trace via conventional channels such as published journals and monographs because it is not published commercially or is not widely accessible.” – Wikipedia definition of “grey/gray literature”
Why Grey Literature?
“Grey literature may not stand alone, but it can contribute substantively to understanding scientific challenges. [In scientific research] every source should be considered in the exploration of an issue. In some domains, the best source of information may be grey.
So How Do I Find & Evaluate Grey Literature?
Finding grey literature can be difficult and require exhaustive searching. Since grey literature is not included in bibliographic databases, it requires different search techniques in order to find information relevent to your topic of interest.
General Resources
Google Advanced Search or Google Scholar Advanced Search – Use advanced search to improve precision. Access advanced search in Google Scholar from the menu in the top left of the page.Try date limits or domain limits (.org or .gov) to narrow results.
Organizations
Organizations are also a good method for finding grey literature. Identify organizations that are likely to create publications in your area of research, such as:
Grey Literature “Database” Resources
HSRProj: Health Services Research Projects in progress provides access to information about current research-in-progress before results are available in published form. Contains over 15,000 active reports.
Conference Abstracts & Proceedings
Covers over 12,000 meetings from around the world.
Search using the “Conference Name” field or do a subject search and limit results to “Conference Abstracts”.
Why aren’t conference abstracts published?
The most common reason provided by authors of abstracts for not publishing their study results in full has been reported to simply be “lack of time,” and not because the results were considered unreliable or negative [ 34 ].
What is the most common scenario for publication bias?
The most frequent scenario for publication bias is when studies with “positive” (or “significant”) results are selectively published, or are published sooner, than studies with either null or negative results. Publication bias can be conceptualized as occurring in two stages: (I) from a study’s end to presentation of its results at a conference …
What is systematic review?
Systematic reviewers aim to be comprehensive in summarizing the existing literature addressing specific research questions. This generally involves a thorough search for published studies as well as for ongoing or recently completed studies that are not yet published. Ongoing and recently completed studies are often identified through searches of registries, such as ClinicalTrials.gov, and of conference proceedings. While identifying and cataloging unpublished studies from conference proceedings is generally recognized as a good practice during systematic reviews, controversy remains whether to include study results that are reported in conference abstracts. Current guidelines are conflicting. The United States Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ), through its Effective Healthcare Program, recommends that searches for conference abstracts be considered, but Cochrane and the United States National Academy of Sciences (NAS) both recommend always searching for and including conference abstracts in systematic reviews [ 1, 2, 3 ]. Our objectives in this commentary are to summarize the existing evidence both for and against the inclusion of conference abstracts in systematic reviews and provide suggestions for systematic reviewers when deciding whether and how to include conference abstracts in systematic reviews.
Why are systematic reviews biased?
In the context of publication bias arising during stage II (i.e., if abstracts with positive or significant results are selectively published in full), systematic reviews relying solely on fully published studies can be biased because positive results would be overrepresented.
Is it a good practice to catalog unpublished studies?
While identifying and cataloging unpublished studies from conference proceedings is generally recognized as a good practice during systematic reviews, controversy remains whether to include study results that are reported in conference abstracts. Existing guidelines provide conflicting recommendations.
Should conference abstracts be included in a systematic review?
Based on the available evidence and on our experience, we suggest that instead of arbitrarily deciding to include conference abstracts or not in a systematic review, systematic reviewers should consider the availability of evidence. If available evidence is sparse or conflicting, it may be worthwhile to include conference abstracts. If results from conference abstracts are included, then it is necessary to make diligent attempts to contact the authors of the abstract and examine study registers and published protocols to obtain further and confirmatory information on methods and results.
