Study Framework
Our study of intergovernmental organizations began in 2001. In our case studies, we are learning how organizations produce, publish, and disseminate grey literature on marine environmental and fisheries matters, and how they promote awareness, access, and use of it. We are tracking the pathways of grey literature and our goal is to understand how this information can be more effectively used in policy and decision making processes. The problem of how to better utilize existing information usually does not lie with the lack of information, but with its access and communication. Hence, the research focuses on the interface between the production of scientific grey literature and its use primarily in policy and decision-making contexts as shown in our study framework.
In our research we are following the definition of grey literature given by the Greynet Literature Network Service (2009), namely, “Information produced by all levels of government, academics, business and industry in electronic and print formats not controlled by commercial publishing, i.e., where publishing is not the primary activity of the producing body.”