It is important to critically appraise all sources used to inform clinical practice, consistent with the principles of evidence-based practice. As grey literature is not peer-reviewed, it is especially important to critically appraise grey literature before using it to inform clinical practice.
The AACODS Checklist is a simple framework you can use to evaluate the quality and trustworthiness of grey literature. As grey literature varies in its content, scope, and organization, this checklist is broad and widely applicable to different information sources.
Authority - Who is responsible for the content and are they credible?
Accuracy - Is the document supported by credible, authoritative sources?
Coverage - Does the document clearly state parameters that define their content coverage?
Objectivity - Is there bias? Is it easily detected?
Date - Can you find the date? For the content to inform your research it must have a date to confirm relevance
Significance - Does the document add something unique to the research?
Lateral reading is an information evaluation technique most often used to evaluate claims on websites and in other, less formal sources. Laterla reading is the simple practice of:
Using lateral reading, the goal is to evaluate a website or publication's authority, using the Process, Expertise, Aim framework.
Process - a reliable source for facts should have a process in place for encouraging accuracy, verifying facts, and correcting mistakes
Expertise - do the author(s) of a text have domain or disciplinary expertise?
Aim - what is the publication, author, website, etc attempting to accomplish?