Share GreyLit: Using Social Media to Communicate Grey Literature

The Grey Literature Report produced by the New York Academy of Medicine supports efforts of researchers, health practitioners, and policy makers in urban and public health by curating, preserving and providing access to high quality, cutting edge research. Grey literature is continually being added to systematic reviews and evidence-based practice in the health sciences. It is also being called upon as an area of research that needs to be disseminated and communicated effectively. This research needs proven strategies to raise the profile of grey literature in order for it to be known by policy- and decision-makers. For example, at Advancing the Science to Improve Population Health conference held at the National Academies of Sciences on September 30, 2015, a presentation on Population Health Research Agenda Survey Results asks how to raise the profile of “grey literature” to be included in population health research. The AcademyHealth’s Translation and Dissemination Institute states that they are there to help "the field of health services research move its findings more effectively into policy and practice.” The Institute offered two webinars focusing on the use of Twitter in disseminating and translating evidence as way for researchers to promote and share their work. In an effort to understand dissemination of grey literature, research was conducted on the use of Twitter among health and health policy think tanks and the resulting poster, Think Tanks, Twitter, and Grey Literature (Aloia 2014), was presented at the 16th International GreyNet Conference in Washington, DC. Building on the think tanks research, this study will survey current users of The Grey Literature Report on their use of social media and how they are alerted to new grey literature in their field. Our research will add to the growing importance of grey literature to evidence-based practice and provide evidence of how best to disseminate and share research results through social media.Includes: Conference preprint, Powerpoint presentation, Abstract and Biographical notesXAInternationa