Expanding access to grey literature produced in Africa to support resilient agri-food systems

Grey literature, which includes working papers, conference papers, reports, theses and dissertations, and government documents can contain valuable research. These documents are often hard to identify and locating the full text can also be a challenge. The rise in the number of systematic reviews and scoping reviews being undertaken has shone a light on grey literature since most guidelines include it as a requirement in the search process. Economists have a long tradition of contributing grey literature to the global body of knowledge. While some of the grey literature produced in Africa is readily available, much continues to be difficult to locate. AgEcon Search, the subject repository for agricultural and applied economics, contains the full text of grey literature from a number of African organizations and is in the process of systematically seeking to locate more and to make it freely available on the Web when possible.