Grey literature in scientific communication: “Nancy style” to guarantee editorial quality of technical reports.
The first part of this report contains a short outlook of the evolution of the concept of grey literature through the years and presents its role as a quick and informal means for the diffusion of scientific information. The Internet has increased the responsibilities of authors and institutions producing grey literature, therefore they should be aware of both editorial standards and ethical considerations behind a worldwide diffusion of information. This is why the “Guidelines for the production of scientific and technical reports: how to write and distribute grey literature” were produced in 2006 (they are informally known as “Nancy style” from the International Conference on grey Literature held in Nancy in that year). The Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS, the National Institute of Health in Italy), as promoter and active participant in their realization, has translated the Guidelines into Italian to better promote their use in Italy. The second part of the report includes the original version of the Guidelines in English and their translation into Italian. The third part includes an example of the application of “Nancy style” in the Instructions to authors of the technical reports edited by the ISS
