Finding policies, government reports and white papers
Policies, reports and white papers help to provide researchers with insights on the translation of research into policy.
These types of grey literature are essential for finding expert insights, emerging trends, and policy developments beyond traditional academic publishing.
Where to find policies, reports and white papers
Policies, reports and white papers are often published online or made available through specialist repositories or databases.
Search engines such as Google and DuckDuckGo, or AI search engines such as Perplexity.ai are useful to identify policies, reports and white papers.
Note
For further information on using search engines to find grey literature such as policies, reports and white papers, check out the Searching for grey literature page.
Australian sources
- Australian Federal and State Departments
We encourage users to use Google to locate Australian government policies, government reports and white papers. Use the following prompt in Google, policy | guideline | strategy + .gov.au + keywords for topic of interest. For example, policy | guideline | strategy + .gov.au + water.
- Analysis & Policy Observatory
A range of policy collections that are sources of news and links for Australian policy.
- Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
Australian Government portal providing reliable, regular and relevant information and statistics on Australia's health and welfare.
- Australian Indigenous Health InfoNet
Information about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations; the context of Indigenous health; measures of population health status; selected health conditions; and health risk and protective factors.
- EBSCOHost Health Policy Reference Centre
A comprehensive full-text database covering a international focus on health policy.
- Australian Public Affairs Information Service (APAIS)
A subject index to scholarly articles published in Australia in the field of social science.
- Australian Public Affairs Information Service Health (APAIS-Health)
Australian legal, social, economic and ethical aspects of health.
- Australian Public Affairs Full Text (APAFT)
Database covers Australia's political, economic and social affairs. The collection holds articles and index records on topics such as current affairs, economics, humanities, law, literature, politics and social sciences.
International sources
- Grey Source
Provides examples of grey literature supported by organisations responsible for the production and/or processing of that material.
- WHO | IRIS
The World Health Organisation's Institutional Repository. Provides access to all World Health Organisation (WHO) publications.
- World Bank Indicators
Free and open access comprehensive selection of economic, social and environmental indicators. It draws on data from the World Bank and partner agencies.
Tip
Check out our discipline specific resource guides for additional sources to find grey literature.