Grey Literature (GL): Access and Use Potentials for Healthcare Education Professionals in Developing Context: Ghana as a Case

The growing interest in grey literature (GL) is attributed to the fact that it constitutes a significant part of scientific production. The proliferation of alternative/complementary approaches to professional practice as well as new modes of delivery that bring in new forms of knowledge and usage h...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Abdulai, Salmu (author)
Other Authors: Abukari, Abdulai (author)
Published: 2024
Online Access:https://bspace.buid.ac.ae/handle/1234/2729
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1862980611588751360
author Abdulai, Salmu
author2 Abukari, Abdulai
author2_role author
author_facet Abdulai, Salmu
Abukari, Abdulai
author_role author
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Abdulai, Salmu
Abukari, Abdulai
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2024-10
2025-01-14T11:12:47Z
2025-01-14T11:12:47Z
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv 2616-6828
https://bspace.buid.ac.ae/handle/1234/2729
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv en
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv The British University in Dubai (BUiD)
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Grey Literature (GL): Access and Use Potentials for Healthcare Education Professionals in Developing Context: Ghana as a Case
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv Article
description The growing interest in grey literature (GL) is attributed to the fact that it constitutes a significant part of scientific production. The proliferation of alternative/complementary approaches to professional practice as well as new modes of delivery that bring in new forms of knowledge and usage have made GL more essential to inform practice and theory. Similarly, the rise of advanced and sophisticated technologies for storing, retrieving and sharing of information have also improved and encouraged the use of GL by practitioners across different practice sectors. However, majority of the research and papers on GL is cast within the context of literature review for the purposes of research and library practice (management – obtaining, storing, sharing etc). In addition, there is limited focus on how practitioners access and use GL to inform their practice. In developing contexts such as in Africa, the importance of GL has been highlighted but the main issues are that it is not adequately documented, as well as limited national and regional databases and access issues. These issues have negatively affected the use of GL in many developing contexts. This research paper assesses access and potential use of GL by healthcare education professionals in a developing context through a critical analysis of the characteristics of online repositories from 5 selected public higher education institutions in Ghana. The finding shows that the case institutions’ online repositories hold large databases of GL with many items relevant to healthcare education. It also indicates that many of the repositories are accessible online and have appropriate search engines that facilitate access and retrieval of documents. These characteristics post positive potential for access and use of grey literature by professionals. However, the finding highlights issues with intermittent access to internet in some of the repositories; lack of organised access and retrieval of GL materials. The paper provides a few recommendations which include provision of modern IT systems and stable internet connectivity to institutions holding large GL databases.
id budr_69901b3de9d4230364ef2947f452062d
identifier_str_mv 2616-6828
language_invalid_str_mv en
network_acronym_str budr
network_name_str The British University in Dubai repository
oai_identifier_str oai:bspace.buid.ac.ae:1234/2729
publishDate 2024
publisher.none.fl_str_mv The British University in Dubai (BUiD)
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository_id_str
spelling Grey Literature (GL): Access and Use Potentials for Healthcare Education Professionals in Developing Context: Ghana as a CaseAbdulai, SalmuAbukari, AbdulaiThe growing interest in grey literature (GL) is attributed to the fact that it constitutes a significant part of scientific production. The proliferation of alternative/complementary approaches to professional practice as well as new modes of delivery that bring in new forms of knowledge and usage have made GL more essential to inform practice and theory. Similarly, the rise of advanced and sophisticated technologies for storing, retrieving and sharing of information have also improved and encouraged the use of GL by practitioners across different practice sectors. However, majority of the research and papers on GL is cast within the context of literature review for the purposes of research and library practice (management – obtaining, storing, sharing etc). In addition, there is limited focus on how practitioners access and use GL to inform their practice. In developing contexts such as in Africa, the importance of GL has been highlighted but the main issues are that it is not adequately documented, as well as limited national and regional databases and access issues. These issues have negatively affected the use of GL in many developing contexts. This research paper assesses access and potential use of GL by healthcare education professionals in a developing context through a critical analysis of the characteristics of online repositories from 5 selected public higher education institutions in Ghana. The finding shows that the case institutions’ online repositories hold large databases of GL with many items relevant to healthcare education. It also indicates that many of the repositories are accessible online and have appropriate search engines that facilitate access and retrieval of documents. These characteristics post positive potential for access and use of grey literature by professionals. However, the finding highlights issues with intermittent access to internet in some of the repositories; lack of organised access and retrieval of GL materials. The paper provides a few recommendations which include provision of modern IT systems and stable internet connectivity to institutions holding large GL databases.The British University in Dubai (BUiD)2025-01-14T11:12:47Z2025-01-14T11:12:47Z2024-10Articleapplication/pdf2616-6828https://bspace.buid.ac.ae/handle/1234/2729enoai:bspace.buid.ac.ae:1234/27292025-01-14T23:00:18Z
spellingShingle Grey Literature (GL): Access and Use Potentials for Healthcare Education Professionals in Developing Context: Ghana as a Case
Abdulai, Salmu
title Grey Literature (GL): Access and Use Potentials for Healthcare Education Professionals in Developing Context: Ghana as a Case
title_full Grey Literature (GL): Access and Use Potentials for Healthcare Education Professionals in Developing Context: Ghana as a Case
title_fullStr Grey Literature (GL): Access and Use Potentials for Healthcare Education Professionals in Developing Context: Ghana as a Case
title_full_unstemmed Grey Literature (GL): Access and Use Potentials for Healthcare Education Professionals in Developing Context: Ghana as a Case
title_short Grey Literature (GL): Access and Use Potentials for Healthcare Education Professionals in Developing Context: Ghana as a Case
title_sort Grey Literature (GL): Access and Use Potentials for Healthcare Education Professionals in Developing Context: Ghana as a Case
url https://bspace.buid.ac.ae/handle/1234/2729