Linking full-text grey literature to underlying research and post-publication data: An Enhanced Publications Project 2011-2012

This project seeks to circumvent the data vs. documents camp in the grey literature community by way of a middle ground provided through enhanced publications. Enhanced publications allow for a fuller understanding of the process in which data and information are used and applied in the generation of knowledge. The enhanced publication of grey literature precludes the idea of a random selection of data and information, and instead focuses on the human intervention in data-rich environments.

The definition of an enhanced publication is borrowed from the DRIVER-II project, “a publication that is enhanced with three categories of information: research data, extra materials, and post-publication data”. Enhanced publications combine textual resources i.e. documents intended to be read by human beings, which contain an interpretation or analysis of primary data. Enhanced publications inherently contribute to the review process of grey literature as well as the replication of research and improved visibility of research results in the scholarly communication chain. 2.

Design of the Questionnaire and Author Survey The population of the survey was selected from among the 286 authors and co-authors in the International Conference Series on Grey Literature. It was decided that only first authors would receive the questionnaire, which narrowed the potential population of the survey to 162 authors of which only 95 were actually sent the online questionnaire. The reason the other 67 first authors were not included in the final survey population was due to a number of factors such as no current email address, retired, deceased, etc.

The 95 authors were sent a personalized email with a standardized text inviting them to participate in the survey by completing the online questionnaire. The survey was carried out using the freeware ‘Survey Monkey’ and the questionnaire contained 10 items, three of which were open-ended. Subheadings were also inserted in the questionnaire set off by quotation marks.

These subheadings preceded each odd numbered question and were deemed relevant in achieving informed responses. The final results are based on the response of 50 of the 95 survey recipients, which amounts to roughly a 53% response rate.