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Although publication in the form of grey literature is widely practised by governmental and intergovernmental groups, quality control assessments rarely consider the important factors of the diffusion and impact of this literature. In our recent research we showed that the grey literature output of GESAMP, the Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (sponsored by the UN and several of the UN-family of organizations), did reach scientific readers and was cited in scientific papers, reports, and monographs. GESAMP is, however, a specialized scientific body. To test whether the citation patterns for GESAMP publications are representative of international intergovernmental bodies, we have extended our research to investigate another intergovernmental organization devoted to marine environmental issues, namely, the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment (GOMC). Because of its similar environmental focus, GOMC is an important comparative organization to study. Furthermore, GOMC's mandate for public policy development and public education as well as scientific investigation provides an opportunity to study grey literature in a broader context. The Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment, an American-Canadian partnership of governmental and non-governmental organizations, has been working since 1989 to maintain and enhance environmental quality in the Gulf of Maine. The Gulf's watershed includes all of the American state of Maine, and portions of Massachusetts and New Hampshire and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Quebec. The Council organizes "conferences and workshops; offer[s] grants and recognition awards; conduct[s] environmental monitoring; provide[s] science translation to management; raise[s] public awareness about the Gulf; and connect[s] people, organizations, and information" (GOMC website). In contrast to GESAMP, which primarily publishes rigorously refereed scientific reports, the Gulf of Maine Council produces both scientific studies and reports and a broad range of other publications designed to reach a wide public readership, all of which can be classified as grey literature. Through its own publications and those resulting from studies conducted under contract or in cooperation with other organizations, the GOMC provides a complex publishing history for study. In this paper we will discuss our systematic investigation of GOMC print and digital publications, approximately 300 identified to date, to show that the influence of the grey literature output of this international organization exhibits features similar and different to GESAMP's literature. Our analysis draws on a comprehensive database of the published output of GOMC, which we built for our project. Coupling citation analysis with recent advancements of the web and digital tracking techniques, we have uncovered evidence of the influence of GOMC publications. Our investigation of both GESAMP and GOMC shows that even though grey literature fulfills a major role in the operation of intergovernmental organizations, and though digital alerting and access tools abound on the Internet, a reliance on grey literature as the primary means of publication continues to pose significant hurdles for influencing scientific research, public policy, and public opinion. While grey literature is common to these organizations, its impact can be muted because of the limitations of the literature itself. Includes: Conference preprint, Powerpoint presentation, Abstract and Biographical notes, Pratt student commentary XA International |
