This Guide is based on best business practices as defined by DOE and contractor STIP participants from across the DOE complex. The purpose of the Guide is to assist individuals who are involved in STI whether it is unclassified (unlimited, sensitive, or export controlled) or classified to meet Departmental expectations for ensuring access to STI and for managing STI throughout the various phases of the information life-cycle: planning, creation, publication, dissemination, and preservation. It complements other DOE directives relating to information security yet specifically addresses STI products. Information management policies, principles, and practices are evolving as new electronic technologies become available. This Guide is one of the primary STIP mechanisms for sharing "best-in-class" practices, and it will be modified and updated as changes are identified by the STI community.

Because of the rapid changes in information technologies within and external to DOE, the usefulness of this Guide requires that it be kept up-to-date. Proposed changes to the Guide may be identified by anyone involved in STI and referred to as a STIP participant (an STI point of contact). Normally, items are discussed during regularly scheduled STIP meetings and are referred to one of the STIP workgroups to make a recommendation to the entire STIP community. Agreed-upon changes will then be incorporated into this Guide.

An overarching DOE requirement is to make STI broadly available, within applicable laws and Departmental requirements, to—

• accomplish mission objectives and strategic goals,

• promote scientific advancement,

• satisfy statutory dissemination requirements, and

• ensure a fair return on Departmental and taxpayer investment.

Requirements and responsibilities for STI are provided in DOE O 241.1A. The primary objective of the Order is to ensure that STI is identified, processed, disseminated, and preserved to enable the scientific community and the public to locate and use the unclassified and unlimited STI resulting from DOE research and related endeavors. Additionally, the requirements and responsibilities provide a mechanism to manage and protect classified, sensitive unclassified, and export-controlled STI yet make it accessible for appropriate access by the Department, its contractors, and others. Attachment 2 lists relevant authorities and other guidance.

STI consists of information products, in any format or medium, derived from scientific and technical studies, work, or investigations that relate to research, development, demonstration, and other specialized areas such as environmental and health protection and waste management.  Scientific and technical information products may be unclassified unlimited, sensitive unclassified, export controlled, classified, or declassified. DOE-funded STI originates primarily from research and other activities performed by contractors for management, operation, or integration of DOE-owned/leased facilities, direct DOE-executed prime procurements, DOE-operated research activities, and financial assistance recipients, in addition to DOE employees.

STI products and documents that provide findings, statistics, and analysis related to DOE research and development programs (excluding administrative documents) are appropriate for announcement to OSTI and are listed in Part II, Section 4, of this Guide.  Definitions are provided in Attachment 3 for other terms used in the management of STI.

STIP is comprised of DOE program managers, researchers, and STI professionals who collaborate for the timely collection and broad dissemination of the Department’s STI. Strategic goals of STIP are to—

• provide access to DOE’s STI,

• promote collaboration as a means of doing business,

• use best business practices for the life-cycle management of STI, and

• be customer-focused in providing STI products and services.

One component of the Department’s STIP activities is the Scientific and Technical Information Coordinating Group (STICG). The STICG is made up primarily of representatives from Headquarters elements that either fund research or set policies or practices affecting STI. The group, chaired by the Director of OSTI, is cognizant of Departmental STI activities and serves as an advisory body on crosscutting STI issues and initiatives.

Although OSTI has the responsibility to coordinate STIP, the success of the program depends on the active participation and involvement of each of the STI representatives from the various DOE programs, field offices, and contractors. Activities are coordinated through DOE Technical Information Officers, who are the designated STI points of contact at DOE operations and field offices, to STI managers and STI points of contact at major contractor-operated facilities and the national laboratories.

Paramount among the recent management reforms within the Federal Government is the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, which requires agencies to—

• focus on program outcomes,

• establish measurable annual objectives that link to long-term goals,

• develop budgets that are based on planned performance, and

• report results.

DOE has initiated a number of management changes as part of that reform. Those relevant to STI include the following:

• a. Review and oversight of laboratory performance under performance-based management contracts, primarily through performance measures and self-assessments. Other influences on the annual laboratory evaluation include peer reviews, program office evaluations, external reviews (e.g., Office of Inspector General, Government Accounting Office), and day-to-day operational experience.

• b. The Business Management Oversight Program, where STI management/administration was identified as a specific functional area. Performance objectives were established for the FY 1998 Headquarters review of Field Federal Activities (agreements were negotiated between OSTI and each operations office). Some of those agreements have begun to be referenced in operations offices oversight of contractor activities.

• c. The most recently issued DOE Strategic Plan (of September 2000) included a strategy for ensuring the success of DOE’s science mission through scientific and technical information access and use. This strategy appears in the Science business line.

• d. With STI being recognized as a key outcome of R&D and related activities, initiatives have begun for placing STI as a component of technical program reviews and of the laboratory appraisal process.

• e. The Department’s first STIP Strategic Plan was issued in September 1997 (see Part I, Section 5), thereby establishing goals and strategies for the DOE’s STI community and its activities. The overarching goal is the Departmental initiative to transition STI activities to an electronic environment. 

Those who either sponsor activities that produce STI or who conduct or manage activities that are within the STI life-cycle should consider the points listed above as well as the information below for review or assessment of STI.

• Non-management and operation/integration (non-M&O/M&I)-generated STI deliverables are made available to OSTI in a timely manner.

• Useful M&O- or M&I-generated STI products are made available to OSTI in a timely manner.

Objective 2: Transition is being made to a decentralized electronic environment.

• Non-M&O/M&I-generated STI deliverables are increasingly provided to OSTI in appropriate electronic formats (i.e., increasing numbers of contracts are changed to require electronic formats).

• M&O/M&I contractor announcement records and full-text STI documents are increasingly made available to OSTI in agreed-upon electronic formats.

• STI points of contact actively participate in scheduled and ad hoc teleconferences, meetings, and STIP working groups to determine STI procedures based on best business practices.

• Leadership and innovation are demonstrated by STI points of contact both locally and DOE-wide.

• Performance expectations based on adopted performance objectives are negotiated with each performing R&D contractor.

• Periodic reviews of performing R&D contractor self assessments are conducted and operational awareness of each one is maintained.

• Provide assistance and data to contracting officers on status of direct-procurement type technical information policies and deliverables.

In evaluating the quality of the science and technology performed by the laboratory and its relevance to their programmatic goals, DOE program managers may periodically review the programs they fund. One aspect of the effectiveness and efficiency of research program management is the effectiveness with which technical results are communicated to maximize the value of the research results and to gain appropriate recognition for DOE and the laboratory.  Therefore, Headquarters programs that fund activities resulting in STI may want to consider criteria such as the following in their program reviews:

Several information systems or databases operated and maintained by OSTI provide information of interest to the scientific community as well as assistance in various aspects of managing the Department’s STI. Some of the tools helpful in managing and providing access are described below:

• a. EnergyFiles. EnergyFiles, the Virtual Library of Energy, Science and Technology (http://www.osti.gov/energyfiles), provides the umbrella for the other Web-based OSTI and STIP community information systems. This ever-expanding virtual collection of information sources, tools, and technologies supports the finding and use of energy-related information and the conduct of energy research. EnergyFiles serves as a central locator for various DOE and laboratory resources. It includes subject pathways comparable to technical literature subject areas of interest to DOE and end-users. A key feature of Energy Files, EnergyPortal Search, is a search engine with the capability to return distributed full text. EnergyPortal Search employs a single search strategy to search across approximately 500 heterogeneous databases and Web sites, including OSTI-developed products, that are linked through EnergyFiles.

• b. DOE Energy Link or "E-Link" (http://www.osti.gov/elink) is the OSTI-developed system that facilitates electronic announcement and/or submission of DOE STI. E-Link enables DOE sites to enter data for the DOE announcement record through a Web interface or to upload data files, as well as to upload the associated full-text STI products as needed. Sites may also use E-Link to review the status of records or to revise previously submitted information. Password-protected access is granted to DOE or major DOE contractors routinely submitting records to OSTI. Financial assistance recipients and non-facilities management contractors have a separate E-Link interface to the Web form available for their use at http://www.osti.gov/elink-2413/ to provide the announcement record and associated full-text.

• c. DOE Information Bridge (http://www.osti.gov/bridge) is the Web-based collection of DOE’s full-text technical reports provided by STIP partners throughout the DOE complex. It can be used to access, locate, search, and download full-text and/or bibliographic information electronically. Public access is provided through an agreement between DOE and the Government Printing Office (GPO), located on the GPO Access system. A DOE version, which also includes bibliographic citations (full text when available) of energy-related scientific and technical information obtained from a variety of domestic and international sources, is available to DOE and DOE contractors who obtain access from OSTI.

• d. GrayLIT Network (http://www.osti.gov/graylit) is an interagency collaboration between DOE’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), the Department of Defense Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC), the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) Jet Propulsion Lab and Langley Research Center, and the Environmental Protection Agency National Environmental Publications Center which provides the world’s most comprehensive portal to governmental full-text technical reports on the Internet. By offering one stop for this previously hard-to-find Government information, the GrayLIT Network enables convenient access to over 100,000 full-text scientific and technical documents residing at disperse locations. A distributed search tool allows one search across the combined deep Web information and returns results in one integrated listing. The GrayLIT Network is available to the public in partnership with the Government Printing Office through GPO Access (http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs).

• e. R&D Project Summaries Web Database (http://www.osti.gov/rnd) contains the publicly accessible subset of the Department’s research projects beginning in FY 1995. Over 75 percent of the total Department’s R&D project summaries are available through this Web-based application.

• f. Federal R&D Project Summaries (http://www.osti.gov/fedrnd) combines over 240,000 records of research and development summary and awards data from three governmental agencies: DOE, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Federal R&D Project Summaries provides a unique window to the Federal research community, allowing both agencies and the public to better understand the research and development efforts within Government. A distributed search tool allows one search across the records residing at disperse locations. Federal R&D Project Summaries is available to the public in partnership with the Government Printing Office through GPO Access (http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs).

• g. R&D Tracking System (http://www.osti.gov/rd/) provides DOE a centrally managed database of project summaries of active R&D projects. It contains summaries collected annually starting in FY 1995, with a cumulative total of over 18,000 projects performed by the national laboratories and other DOE facilities. The system is sponsored by the Office of the Chief Financial Officer and is maintained and operated by OSTI. Access to the system is provided to authorized DOE and DOE contractor representatives.

• h. PubSCIENCE (http://www.osti.gov/pubscience) provides access to peer-reviewed scientific and technical journal literature with a primary focus on physical sciences and other disciplines of concern to DOE. The PubSCIENCE system enables searching across thousands of bibliographic citations from multiple journal sources with direct links to the publisher’s doorstep. The user can then view the full text, if the publisher has made it available, or with a subscription, with a site license, or by pay-per-view.

• i. PrePRINT Network (http://www.osti.gov/preprints) is a searchable gateway to preprint servers that deal with scientific and technical disciplines of concern to DOE. Access is provided to thousands of electronic preprints available from diverse sites. Users may search a single site or search several sites simultaneously using a distributed search tool.  The PrePRINT Alerts feature allows users to create personal profiles to match their interests. Users then receive weekly notification of new information that matches their profile.

• j. Research and Development (R&D) Accomplishments Database (http://www.osti.gov/accomplishments) is a publicly available central forum for information about the outcome of past DOE R&D that had significant economic impact, improved people’s lives, or was a significant advance in science. The core of the database consists of searchable bibliographic citations and full text of documents reporting accomplishments from DOE and DOE contractors.

• k. ETDEWEB (http://www.osti.gov/etdeweb) is the Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDE) World Energy Base, an Information Bridge-like Web product serving the domestic and international community. Conceived, developed, implemented, and operated by OSTI on behalf of the International Energy Agency Energy Technology Data Exchange Implementing Agreement, ETDEWEB contains both U.S. and international information exchanged since 1995, including links to available full text. The international information included in ETDEWEB is a result of OSTI’s longstanding international information exchange agreements. U.S. public access is free, but registration is necessary to ensure compliance with these agreements.

• l. Classified Energy Online (CLEO) contains bibliographic records (metadata) for the Department’s central collection of classified DOE and other technical reports. Contact OSTI for more information about this database and related information resources.

• m. Controlled Access File (CAF) contains bibliographic records (metadata) for the Department’s central collection of DOE sensitive unclassified or other restricted access technical reports. Contact OSTI for more information about this database and related information resources.

   

DOE G 241.1A-1A

Approved 11-23-01

GUIDE TO THE MANAGEMENT OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL INFORMATION

PART II

This part of the Guide describes the procedures for accomplishing the broadest possible availability through appropriate review, access determination, and central announcement. It also defines STI products, electronic full-text formats and transfer procedures, announcement record submission, and some other activities carried out by DOE and DOE contractor elements as well as those carried out by OSTI. General information is provided on the agreed-upon STIP practices and procedures, but the Guide does not attempt to provide all details necessary for the complete life-cycle management of STI. If further information is needed, contact OSTI or consult with the STI Program contact at the respective site or organization (http://www.doe.gov/stip/programcontacts.htm).  A central locator to DOE’s publicly available STI is maintained by OSTI through the DOE Information Bridge. Additionally, OSTI fulfills Departmental mandates for broad public dissemination by administering various agreements with intermediaries for public access, including the National Technical Information Service (NTIS), GPO, and international exchanges.

NOTE: Much of the information in this Guide describes practices for management, announcement, and dissemination of unclassified unlimited STI. Additionally, exceptions are noted where applicable for practices related to sensitive unclassified, export controlled, classified, and declassified STI. References are also provided to other DOE Orders, Manuals, Guides, and other specific guidance on the management of sensitive unclassified, classified, declassified, and export controlled STI. Users of this Guide should always refer to these specific references when determining the most up-to-date and appropriate treatment of sensitive unclassified, classified, declassified, and export controlled STI. For specific references, see Attachments 2 and 4.

This section specifically addresses STI reporting for financial assistance awards and non-major facility management contracts (non-M&O/M&I contracts). The Departmental requirement for scientific/technical reporting for this type of award or contract is stated in DOE O 241.1A, 10 CFR 600, and 48 CFR 935.010. The primary purpose of scientific/technical reporting is to enable the Department to share the results of research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) funded by DOE within the Department as well as publicly. Other sections of this Guide provide additional information for use in preparing the deliverable and delivering it to the Department for announcement and availability.

The initiator of the procurement request, usually the sponsoring program office, specifies the type, frequency, and content of any scientific/technical reports or products required under the corresponding award or contract. The contracting officer then ensures that these reporting requirements and performance objectives and measures, if any, are included in the solicitation and/or resulting award or contract. It is the contracting officer’s responsibility to communicate to the awardee/recipients the expectations and requirements regarding scientific/technical deliverables and the associated Departmental submission process.

For financial assistance instruments the "Federal Assistance Reporting Checklist" (DOE F 4600.2) specifies the required technical reporting deliverables, including the announcement form and the form of delivery. For non-major facilities management contracts, the statement of work, or the "Reporting Requirements Checklist" (DOE F 1332.1) specifies the required technical reporting deliverables, including the announcement form and the form of delivery. DOE’s contracting officers are required to ensure that the reporting deliverables are provided to OSTI as specified.

Generally, research and development awards require a final scientific/technical report or product, which is to be submitted within a certain time after the expiration of an award. Additionally, awards may call for identification of products developed under the award and technology transfer activities, i.e., journal publications; other public releases of results; Web or Internet sites that reflect project results; software; databases; inventions; patent applications and/or licensing agreements, some of which are suitable for announcement and availability as STI. Another example of an appropriate scientific/technical submission includes documents that provide an analysis or summary of what a program is doing, intended for public issuance. Documents issued by DOE must come to OSTI if DOE intends to make them publicly available through GPO and NTIS.

Scientific/technical reports and products provide the results of scientific and technical studies, investigations that relate to research, development, demonstration, and other specialized areas such as environmental and health protection and waste management. Technical reports document the findings of the funded R&D project. Commercially published books, copyrighted papers, or journal reprints cannot be disseminated by DOE. If these products are identified as deliverables, citations should be provided, showing the publisher availability. Project status reports or other status reports including project management, financial or budget, administrative information or those generated by support service contractors performing non-technical tasks are considered to be management reports and should not be sent to OSTI.

The contracting officer should ensure that the OSTI deliverable code described in item 51 of the Individual Procurement Action Report (IPAR) corresponds to the STI deliverable(s) specified by DOE F 4600.2 or DOE F 1332.1. This code is used in DOE’s Procurement and Assistance Data System (PADS) specifically to identify required scientific/technical reporting deliverables that are to be submitted to OSTI. The code should not be used to identify any other reporting requirements (e.g., they should not be used for management or financial reporting, such as project status reports).

Values for the IPAR, item 51, "OSTI Deliverable" code used to specify the required scientific/technical reporting deliverable for a particular award are described as follows:

AD Final Report

CO Conference Paper

AU Conference Proceedings (scientific and technical conferences only)

YY Computer Software

YZ Computer Software Plus Final Report

DD Other (e.g., reports at the end of a phase or task, documents prepared for public

release, videos or movies, etc.)

AZ No Technical Information Deliverable Required

The awardees and financial assistance recipients submit the required scientific/technical reporting deliverables resulting from R&D funded work as specified by the "Federal Assistance Reporting Checklist" (DOE F 4600.2) and the "Reporting Requirements Checklist" (DOE F 1332.1) under "Technical Information Reporting." Information on the recommended attributes to be included in STI products is included in Part II, Section 5 of this document. Attachment 5 provides a report cover and title page example that may be provided to awardees for guidance.

Each report or other STI product should be accompanied by a completed electronic version of the appropriate DOE F 241, "Announcement of U.S. Department of Energy Scientific and Technical Information." The recently developed DOE F 241.3 is specific to the financial assistance and non-major facilities management business lines and has been streamlined for easier, more expeditious submittal. The Web-based announcement forms and instructions are available on the Internet-accessible DOE Energy Link System (E-Link) available at http://www.osti.gov/elink/.

Financial assistance recipients and non-major facilities management contractors should be directed to use the DOE F 241.3 available at http://www.osti.gov/elink-2413/.

Scientific and technical deliverables to be transmitted electronically by DOE should be submitted by E-Link at http://www.osti.gov/elink/.  Financial assistance recipients and non-major facilities management contractors should transmit electronic scientific and technical deliverables through http://www.osti.gov/elink-2413/.  Electronic copy of other computer-generated medium (CD-ROMs, diskettes, videocassettes, etc.) may be transmitted by U.S. Postal Service or other shipment method; however, an electronic copy of the announcement record (appropriate DOE F 241) should be submitted by via E-Link prior to the shipment and a paper copy of the DOE F 241 should accompany the shipment.

The format for report submission is indicated in the award instrument. Electronic documents should be submitted in one integrated file that contains all text, tables, diagrams, photographs, schematic, graphs, and charts. Information about formats and converting a file to portable document format (PDF) is available through E-Link in the "About E-Link" area.

As stated in the award language, if the deliverable is provided on diskettes or CD-ROMs, they should include the scientific/technical report or product in an integrated file and a copy of the accompanying DOE F 241. Diskettes should be labeled as follows:

• DOE award number

• Type of report(s)

• Reporting period

• Name of submitting organization

• Name, phone number, and fax number of preparer

If an award’s reporting requirements include DOE F 241.2, "Notice of Energy RD&D Project," the non-major facilities management contractor or financial assistance recipient should submit the form directly to OSTI with a copy to the contracting officer. This RD&D form may be submitted electronically to OSTI by the Web. The Web form is available at https://secure.osti.gov/rd/owa/rd_doe_contract.input_page.  An optional PDF form is accessible at http://www.osti.gov/elink. The PDF form can be printed, completed, and mailed to OSTI.

OSTI will process the "Notice of Energy RD&D" form for inclusion in the Department’s R&D Tracking System, maintained and operated by OSTI for the Office of the Chief Financial Officer.  Contracting officers and contracting officer technical representatives are responsible for ensuring that the receipt of required interim and final scientific/technical reporting deliverables as identified on DOE F 4600.2 and DOE F 1332.1 are monitored and provided to OSTI. DOE contracting officers, STI releasing officials, and other select operations/field office staff will be provided access to E-Link upon request to ensure appropriate review of the DOE F 241 data and the accompanying report file. Prior to releasing the DOE F 241 and corresponding deliverable, the respective DOE operations/field office’s STI releasing official is responsible for ensuring appropriate review of the announcement data and the accompanying report file for restrictions on the announcement and availability of the full-text information. Their review will include the identification of any restrictions on the announcement and availability of the full-text information; correction of previously submitted records, if necessary; and the release of reports to OSTI. Considerations for the review process to release STI products for announcement are referenced in Part II, Section 3 of this Guide.

Contracting officers are to ensure that scientific/technical reporting deliverables are received by the Department prior to closing the award. To enable DOE operations/field and program office staff to verify receipt of deliverables at OSTI, certain data on new awards is being obtained from PADS, including the awardee name, award number, award date, completion date, and the OSTI deliverable code referenced in IPAR, item 51. When STI deliverables are received by OSTI, the PADS data and data from the STI deliverable indicated on the DOE F 241 will be recorded in E-Link. Contracting officers or other DOE staff may obtain a password to access the system and query the data for their respective awarding office. The data may be searched by contract/grant number, title, author, or report number. The database may be queried to identify technical reporting deliverables required and will also provide a link to the full text of STI products previously submitted (if submitted electronically). E-Link access instructions are available through E-link in the "About E-Link" area.

DOE elements or DOE major facilities contractors originating STI determine which reviews are appropriate for that site in accordance with funding agency policies; Departmental guidelines; and other applicable statutes, laws, and regulations. The DOE Information Security Program (DOE O 471.2A) requires owners of data to determine the sensitivity of information before it is used, processed, or stored on information systems. (See Attachment 2 for additional statutes that relate to STI.) STI products should be reviewed for restrictions on both the announcement and availability of the full-text information. Section 4 describes criteria to consider when determining the submission of STI products to OSTI. DOE operations offices’ review STI products produced by financial assistance recipients and non-major facilities contractors appropriately according to DOE O 241.1A. Reviews to determine announcement and availability of STI products, or restrictions thereto, may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• classification/declassification,

• copyrighted materials or other intellectual property,

• export controls or distribution restrictions, and

• sensitive content, such as Unclassified Controlled Nuclear Information or subject-specific limitation that limits access. (See descriptions in Attachment 4).

DOE and its major facilities management contractors determine which STI products are announced to OSTI based on the criteria outlined in Section 4.1 and provide announcement and availability instructions to OSTI through the metadata elements contained in the announcement record. Any limitations dictated by content or contract and collaborative agreement terms restrict the announcement and availability to the appropriate audience and prescribe what method the sites will use to report the product to OSTI.

Any STI product is appropriate for announcement to OSTI that (1) is considered useful to others outside the originating organization, (2) is a contract or financial assistance deliverable, or (3) includes findings, statistics, or analysis related to research and development. The originator of the product may be DOE or a DOE-funded contractor or grantee. The completeness, accuracy, and quality of such products are ensured by the originating site prior to announcement to OSTI.

Typical STI products produced by DOE or its contractors/financial assistance recipients that are sent or announced to OSTI include the following (see Attachment 3 for definitions):

• scientific/technical reporting deliverables for financial assistance recipients/nonmajor facilities contractors

• commercially published books (an announcement record only may be submitted if copyright restrictions are imposed on product)

• conference papers

• conference proceedings (for commercially published conference proceedings, an announcement record only may be submitted if copyright restrictions are imposed on product)

• environmental impact statements (may be provided to OSTI if not being provided to DOE’s Center for Environmental Management Information (CEMI); if full-text document is provided to CEMI, an announcement record submitted to OSTI would show CEMI as the availability)

• cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) deliverables

• laboratory-directed R&D (LDRD) STI deliverables

• journal article preprints and postprints (an announcement record only may be submitted if copyright restrictions apply, e.g., for reprints)

• noncommercially published books

• patent applications

• programmatic analysis documents

• software

• scientific and technical (S&T) accomplishment reports

• technical reports (topical, final, etc.)

• theses/dissertations

• translations

• Work for Others (WFO) deliverables (unless excluded in WFO agreement)

The following information products are also submitted to OSTI for central processing and announcement at the direction of Headquarters program offices. They do not follow the STI product submission process and do not require an announcement record (DOE F 241.1 or DOE F 241.3):

• foreign trip reports,

• OpenNet documents, and

• R&D project summaries.

Products that may contain some STI but are not submitted to OSTI for announcement and availability, regardless of medium, include the following:

• administrative materials

• brochures

• catalogs

• correspondence

• databases

• draft documents

• empirical data

• engineering drawings

• field work proposals

• financial information

• future conference announcements

• notices

• memorandums

• monthly reports

• newsletters

• policies

• procedures

• proposals/predecisional information

• public communications (except S&T

accomplishments)

• report sections (when full report is STI)

• weekly reports

• WWW pages (except those applicable as a uniform resource locator (URL) for an STI product)

• non-R&D or non-programmatic publications (e.g., strategic, institutional, or facility plans)

An STI product can be created in one or more media, including the following:

• audio cassettes

• compact disks

• diskettes

• film

• magnetic cartridges

• magnetic tapes

• microform

• paper

• videocassettes

• videodiscs

• Web-based files

STI products are announced and made available based on contractor or DOE review. (See Part II, Section 3.) When the announcement record for the STI product is submitted to OSTI, it identifies the appropriate announcement category. The definitions of the specific notices and restrictive legends and any special procedures are listed in Attachment 4. The six announcement and availability categories are shown in Table 1.

5. THE CONTENT OF STI PRODUCTS

This section contains information on the recommended attributes of STI products. Additional details are available in Scientific and Technical Reports Elements, Organization, and Design [American National Standards Institute/National Information Standards Organization (ANSI/NISO) Z39.18-1995].

Information on classifying and declassifying documents and materials is located in DOE M 475.1-1, Identifying Classified Information. This Manual also specifies an organizational requirement to submit bibliographic information and availability information to OSTI for every document that is declassified and determined to be publicly releasable.

Recommended attributes of STI products, and their traditional location in paper-based, stand-alone technical reports, are shown in Table 2. Attachment 5 shows a typical published technical report cover and title page.

An abstract is a concise statement of the purpose, scope, and major findings of the information product. The abstract is intended to be stand-alone text, independent of the full product, and is written appropriately for wide dissemination. The abstract is especially important in nonprintinformation products. For more information, see Guidelines for Abstracts (ANSI/NISO Z39.14-1997).

Author(s) and their employers are typically identified on the information product. Editors and compilers also may be identified.

Any of the following numbers that apply are usually included on the cover/title page: DOE award or contract number(s), budget and reporting (B&R) number, unique project identifier, or technical plan number under which the work was funded.

A publication or issuance date and the basis for it are recommended to be provided on the information product. Examples of dates are shown in Table 3.

In accordance with Federal law and the guidance of appropriate legal counsel, disclaimer(s) are to be included where appropriate. See Attachment 6 for typical disclaimer statements.

A distribution statement may be required on some STI products. Unclassified STI products with sensitive/limited content require special, unique controls in conformance with applicable statutes, laws, regulations, Executive orders, international agreements, directives, and Departmental policy. Such markings are to be consistent with the access limitations indicated on DOE F 241.1 or DOE F 241.3. The appropriate notices, restrictive legends, distribution statements, and restrictive markings are provided in Attachments 4 and 7.

The funding office(s) or sponsoring organization(s) may be identified by name, symbol/logo, or B&R code of the Department office providing the support or funding.

The name and address of the performing or research organization and/or site of origin are typically identified. Subcontract work is normally submitted through the performing R&D contractor or laboratory.

To assist in retrievability, it is recommended that every product published by the origination organization be assigned a standard product/report number that contains some unique identifier that can be traced to the site of origin. The report number formats typically used within the Department are based on the American National Standards Institute Standard Technical Report Number (STRN) Format and Creation (ANSI/NISO Z39.23-1997). Examples are shown in Table 4.  Special numbering may be used for a report series or sequence and translations. Existing series or numbering guidelines used within the Department are available from OSTI.

Additional information may be added to the product number, such as the following types of suffixes:

For multimedia products, it is recommended that the characters in Table 6 be used at the end of the number to indicate the medium.

A brief title is recommended that describes the subject matter covered. A subtitle may be used for further clarification. Additional guidelines are provided below:

• When an STI product has more than one volume, repeat the primary title on each volume. Use a subtitle to identify the specific subject of the individual volume.

• If the report is other than topical, provide the report type and the period covered, if appropriate, as part of the title or subtitle. For non-M&O/M&I generated reports, the report type and period covered are critical for acknowledging receipt of specified deliverables.

• Except for extraordinary circumstances, unclassified titles are to be used for classified documents. The titles must be marked with the appropriate classification level, category, and any caveats, as applicable (see DOE M 471.2-1C).

In accordance with the Joint Committee on Printing’s Government Printing and Binding Regulation, S. Pub 101-9, Title III, Paragraph 13, company names, logos, and similar material may not appear on the internal text pages of Federal publications or on photographs therein.

Use of the metric system for all units of measure in scientific and technical products is recommended on the basis of direction contained in Executive Order 12770, "Metric Usage in Federal Government Programs," dated 7-25-91; the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 (Public Law 94-168, as amended by Public Law 100-418); and various Title 15 Code of Federal Regulations parts and subparts, use of the metric system for all units of measure in scientific and technical products is recommended. English may be included in parentheses after the metric unit if necessary.

Reproduction of information must comply with the Joint Committee on Printing’s Government Printing and Binding Regulation, and with DOE directives.

The report documentation page, used by some Federal agencies in announcing and cataloging reports, is not used by DOE; the DOE announcement record contains similar information. DOE laboratories and facilities that conduct work for others may need to obtain the report documentation page (Standard Form 298) from the agency sponsoring the work.

Items produced by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties cannot be copyrighted (17 U.S.C. 105). If an item produced by one or more Government employees is copyrighted as part of a larger work, and the fact of Government employment is not noted in the STI product, a notice affirming the status of the author(s) as Government employee(s) should accompany the product.

If the U.S. Government has been granted authority to reproduce, sell, distribute, or otherwise make the STI product available by virtue of contract language or otherwise, the following statement should appear on the cover or title page:

A translation of a copyrighted work is itself a derivative work, and permission from the copyright owner of the original work should be secured before the translation is performed and the translation sent to OSTI. Translations made from text published in a country signatory to the Geneva Copyright Convention should contain one of the following signed statements:

or

Most copyright restrictions, however, pertain to the use of third-party copyrighted material incorporated within a DOE-sponsored STI product. If the STI product, or parts thereof, is copyrighted, a letter obtained by the STI product originator and signed by the copyright owner or authorized representative is to be maintained by the originating site. The letter should state the scope of the release or permission to reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works, display, or perform publicly so that access and availability can be accurately provided in the announcement record (DOE F 241.1 or DOE F 241.3) for STI products made available to OSTI.  Announcement and dissemination of the STI product will be based on DOE F 241.1 or DOE F 241.3 data (see also Part II, Section 4.2).

In general, M&O-type contracts provide for Government ownership and unlimited rights in the Government for all technical data first produced in the performance of the contract. One exception to the Government’s unlimited rights is data in which the contractor has asserted copyright.

For scientific and technical articles submitted to and published in journals, symposia, proceedings, or similar works, the contractor can assert copyright without prior permission of DOE, but the Government is granted a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable worldwide license to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public, and perform publicly and display publicly, by or on behalf of the Government (broad license). As specified in the M&O contract, when copyright is claimed and the article is submitted for publication, the contractor should affix the appropriate copyright notice reflecting the Government’s rights. For DOE purposes of disseminating R&D results, it is preferable for the originator’s manuscript (unpublished form of the full text) to be provided to OSTI, rather than submitting copyrighted journal reprints that may have copyright restrictions. For all other technical data first produced in the performance of the contract, such as in technical reports, permission from DOE is required to establish and claim copyright. If permission is granted, a notice is to be included acknowledging the Government’s license. For items granted copyright, DOE F 241.1 should be marked "copyrighted" with any restrictions specifically noted.  If permission to establish or claim copyright has not been requested or granted, no copyright marking is warranted and the document will have unlimited distribution.

For graduate theses in which DOE has sponsored the work, such as those provided to OSTI by DOE laboratories, DOE retains the right to use the scientific and technical information, similar to guidance stated above. The author’s copyright notice may be applied to the document, but it does not limit DOE’s use of the information. Therefore, DOE F 241.1 is to be marked "copyrighted" with "no" restrictions.

Most contractors have standard procedures that their researchers are not to include third-party copyrighted material within their STI products. If such material is included (such as a chart or illustration), release is to be obtained prior to publication of the STI product. This release is to be shown on DOE F 241.1 by indicating "copyrighted material" with "no" restrictions. If the publisher permits use with restrictions, DOE F 241.1 should indicate "copyrighted" with "yes" marked and the type of restriction specified (e.g., "distribute full text upon request only"; "limit distribution to DOE"; "refer requests to publisher").

For translations, as noted above, if warranted, permission should be obtained before preparing the translation and such permission stated in the translation. In addition, if permission is granted and DOE funds the translation, DOE retains the right to use the translation similar to other works as described above. Thus, if no marking appears on the translation, no copyright restrictions are assumed. If copyrighted, the work may still be used for DOE and DOE contractors, as described above for other STI products.

See Part III, Section 4.3.1, for guidance relating to copyrighted software.

The recipient grants to the Government a royalty-free, nonexclusive and irrevocable right to reproduce, publish, or otherwise use the work for Federal purposes, and to authorize others to do so. The right to publish includes the right to publicly distribute. The right to use the work for Federal purposes includes the right to prepare derivative works.

The following statement, which is specific to intangible property, appears in 10 CFR 600.136, paragraph (1):

The recipient may copyright any work that is subject to copyright and was developed, or for which ownership was purchased, under an award. DOE reserves a royalty-free, nonexclusive and irrevocable right to reproduce, publish or otherwise use the work for Federal purposes, and to authorize others to do so.

An image of a hand-written signature may appear within an electronic information product as part of the content of the original product. However, inclusion of the signature may pose a risk when electronic STI products are posted on the Internet. The actual signature is not a required element for submittal of an STI product for announcement and availability. Therefore, it is recommended that those who transmit STI products to OSTI or post them on the Internet consider the potential risk, if any, of including an image of the hand-written signature in an electronic version of the STI product.

To centrally announce the availability of DOE’s STI products, each DOE element and DOE major facilities management contractor that originates an STI product is required by DOE O 241.1A to provide an electronic announcement record (e.g., DOE F 241.1 or DOE F 241.3) to OSTI. OSTI will process the record and announce the product’s availability to the appropriate audience (DOE, other Government agencies, the public, etc.). Unclassified, unlimited STI products will be announced in the DOE Information Bridge.

Electronic records with electronic STI products released to OSTI currently require about two work days processing time.

The DOE STI processing system, called DOE Energy Link or "E-Link," is available for electronic transmittal of announcement records and full-text STI products. See http://www.osti.gov/elink for more information. Paper STI products should no longer be submitted to OSTI.

In FY 1997, DOE and contractor STIP partners adopted the Dublin Core metadata elements as the basis for creating the metadata-based announcement record DOE F 241.1 (which replaced DOE F 1332.15). In FY 2001, the announcement record DOE F 241.3 became available for use by non-M&O/M&I contractors and financial assistance recipients.

The metadata-based announcement record generated and supplied by DOE and DOE contractors for STI products includes the basic Dublin Core metadata elements, supplemented by a few DOE data elements, and a minimal number of subelements necessary to further identify the announcement/availability of the STI product (see Section 6.1.1).

The announcement record is for all STI products; however, for software, the announcement record varies slightly (see Part III). Electronic submission of the announcement record to OSTI is required per DOE O 241.1A. Announcement records for sensitive unclassified information, classified, and declassified STI products, should contain only unclassified, unlimited data when transmitted over open system networks. Likewise, an STI product determined to be classified or Unclassified Controlled Nuclear Information (UCNI) should not be transmitted over open system networks (see Part II, Section 6.4). An announcement record containing classified/unclassified controlled nuclear information should be submitted in paper form and accompany the STI product. This determination is noted by the originating site’s releasing official, who indicates on DOE F 241.1 the authorized announcement of STI products. Each site has an STI point of contact who may serve as or designate others to serve as releasing official(s).

Table 7 lists the metadata and other data elements contained in the announcement record, with descriptions and indications for required (R) and optional (O) fields. Subelements are noted in italics. Note that most of these elements with the exception of those for classified and sensitive

STI products will appear in databases/systems accessible to many users; thus, the primary bibliographic information should be appropriate for public release (i.e., the title and abstract should not contain information inappropriate for public release such as personal or financial data). Classified metadata information contained in the announcement record for classified STI products should be identified.

Announcement record forms DOE F 241.1, DOE F 241.3, and DOE F 241.4 are available at http://www.osti.gov/elink. The version of the DOE F 241.3 used by financial assistance recipients and non-major facilities management contractors is available at http://www.osti.gov/elink-2413/.   DOE F 241.1 may be sent electronically in two ways: a Web-based form or tagged document instance (based on a document type definition (DTD) as a means of tagging the data elements to identify the content of the announcement record). DOE F 241.3 can only be sent using a Web-based form. Additional information about the announcement records is available through E-Link.

Web-based versions of the DOE announcement record input forms, based on HTML, are available at http://www.osti.gov/elink.  The Web input forms provide a number of features, such as distinguishing mandatory from optional fields, choosing from pick-lists of values, and indicating appropriate subelements. Certain data elements and subelements are then checked by validation built into the Web forms prior to submission of the forms to OSTI. Submission of the Web forms are managed by the originating site’s designated releasing official(s), whose submission of the form is password-validated.

The tagged document instance is based on an SGML DTD for the DOE announcement record DOE F 241.1 and is available for those sites that choose to export their data directly from an existing bibliographic database. The DTD may be obtained at http://www.osti.gov/elink. By validating data elements and subelements within the batch process before submitting the file, sites will facilitate parsing and processing of the data at OSTI.

Once an announcement record has been compiled, it is submitted to OSTI electronically. Sites can choose to submit electronic batch files containing multiple announcement records. Methods for transmitting the announcement records or electronic file and standard media storage specifications are listed in Table 8.

Announcement records containing classified or UCNI matter should be submitted in electronic media (i.e., CD-ROM or diskette) or paper form with the STI product through appropriate security channels. The classification/sensitivity of the announcement record as well as the STI product should be indicated.

Once an announcement record or file has been received, OSTI will verify acceptability of the information (i.e., verify that the file is machine-readable and that required elements are provided and complete the process of announcing/distributing the information, as well as archiving the announcement records. The originating site will receive a communication stating that the record or file has been received and is acceptable for processing. If the record or file is unusable, OSTI will notify the originator of the problem and request resubmission of the electronic record or file or use of another acceptable file format. Questions regarding specific acceptance of electronic announcement record submissions should be directed to OSTI.

DOE and major facility management contractors have transitioned to electronic exchange of full-text STI. The acceptable electronic formats were adopted by the STIP community to encourage this transition. Acceptable electronic formats are determined by the level of search capability, accessibility and file integrity, and file management capability. As technologies evolve, this list of formats will be revised and updated. The current acceptable formats accommodate a range of needs within the DOE information environment to ease the transition from a paper-based system to an electronic delivery system.

Current acceptable electronic formats are—

• Corel WordPerfect (Versions 5.0 or greater)

• Extensible Markup Language (XML)

• Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)

• Microsoft Word (Versions 5.0 or greater)

• Portable Document Format (PDF) (image)

• Portable Document Format (PDF) (normal)

• Postscript

• Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML)

• Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) Group 4

Sites should submit STI products to OSTI electronically. Table 9 shows the acceptable media and transmission method for categories of STI (see Part II, Section 4.2).

The preferred method for electronically submitting the unlimited and limited STI product is via file upload available through E-Link. While not recommended, CDs, 3.5 inch diskettes, videocassettes, etc. continue to be an acceptable information exchange medium, although it does require additional processing once received by OSTI. Unlimited STI products submitted by this medium may not be available on the Information Bridge in a timely manner. If different methods of transmitting the electronic record and product are used, timing of the transmittal should be coordinated. For example, if a site uses the Web-based announcement record but mails an electronic STI product (CD, 3.5 inch diskette, videocassettes, etc.), OSTI prefers receipt of both items to coincide as closely as possible. Additionally, STI products that are mailed should be clearly marked with the OSTI identification number for the corresponding announcement record.

Paper is no longer an acceptable exchange medium for unclassified unlimited and sensitive unclassified announcement records or STI products. If a DOE element is unable to make an unlimited STI product available to OSTI in one of the acceptable electronic formats listed in Part II, Section 6.3, the site or office will need to list itself as the source of availability on the announcement record submitted to OSTI.

For STI products sent to OSTI as nonprint media (i.e., physical media such as videocassettes, slides, CDs, etc.), one copy is preferred, accompanied by a copy of the announcement record that has been submitted electronically containing a descriptive abstract and specific information about the medium (e.g., speed, machine compatibility, quantity/type of medium, physical description, color, playing time, and sound).

Because of digitization of text and electronic access to full-text information, sites may want to avoid having original signatures contained within an STI product (see also Part II, Section 5.3.6).  Classified/UCNI STI products are to be submitted to OSTI through appropriate security/mail channels. Electronic medium is the preferred method for delivery, these STI products will be accepted in magnetic media or multimedia (as identified in Table 6).

Working closely with STI partners across the Department, OSTI is leveraging the opportunities provided by the Internet to facilitate access to and use of the unclassified, unlimited STI generated by Departmental R&D programs. Many contractor-operated sites have developed Internet home pages that provide access to both metadata and full-text STI. To capitalize on that site investment, the Department has developed a system that ultimately will provide electronic access to the entire Departmental STI collection distributed at sites across the complex in a variety of formats.

In this distributed system, the Internet-accessible STI at each local site is being linked to a DOE-wide STI locator system, which in turn provides user access to electronic STI residing at the individual sites. This distributed system offers the following benefits:

• Removes the requirement for sites to submit full-text STI to OSTI. Sites can now submit metadata that indicates where the corresponding full text resides on the local Internet home pages. In turn, OSTI remotely accesses the electronic full text and fulfills its STI responsibilities.

• Levies no additional workload on sites already using the Internet technology to distribute STI.

• Eliminates duplication of effort where both the local site and OSTI are loading the same document on the Internet.

• Encourages sites to plan for electronic life-cycle STI management.

• Facilitates user access to the entire DOE STI collection.

For various reasons, some Internet-proficient sites do not make their entire STI collections accessible through the Internet; further, some sites are not yet able to use the Internet technologies. OSTI will negotiate special arrangements with these sites to acquire their electronic full-text STI for subsequent processing at OSTI. These exceptions to processing requirements will require adherence to mutually agreed-upon electronic formats and standards, which are further described in Part II, Section 6.5.1.

OSTI will continue to cooperate with sites to further streamline and enable harvesting of siteposted, publicly available STI collections accessible through the Internet.

OSTI supports distributed access and dissemination of unclassified, unlimited STI for public availability. Site-posted STI (via an electronic repository or Web site) is accessed by OSTI when sites are able to participate in the distributed environment. Distributed announcement and product availability are supported by metadata in the announcement record supplied by the site to OSTI. Metadata elements will include the location of the document through provision of a uniform resource locator (URL). Table 10 shows the relationship between site-posted or site-submitted STI in agreed upon formats and OSTI-supported processes.

NOTE: Electronic documents submitted to OSTI should not be "read only" or encrypted because of additional processing required at OSTI. Documents posted at the site should be publicly accessible. An exception is with electronic classified documents which are required to be encrypted when transmitted by U.S. Mail.

If a major facilities management contractor or other DOE STI originator chooses to make its unclassified, unlimited STI products available through a site-hosted server rather than submitting them to OSTI, the following steps will enable OSTI to link to the STI product for subsequent indexing, user accessibility, and harvesting:

• Post STI products on publicly available server (outside any site-imposed "firewall") in a full-text accessible format.

• Provide to OSTI the metadata announcement record for the product, which includes the unique URL "pointer" to the full-text of the STI product. Approved methods to transfer metadata announcement records are described in Part II, Section 5.2.

• Keep the STI product posted at the specified URL with the same configuration.

• Notify OSTI of changes to the URL or to the server, etc.  For example, if the URLs for products change at a site, OSTI recommends the site revise the announcement records to correct the URLs. OSTI also recommends the site revise the announcement record to indicate the linked STI product has been revised. A description of how to revise or correct the announcement record which will serve as a notification of the changes to OSTI is available in E-Link Help (see http://www.osti.gov/elink for more information).

Notice of other changes, such as the product’s removal from the system, or server changes, for example, should be provided to OSTI as well. The process to notify OSTI is dependent upon whether the action is considered unscheduled or scheduled.

Unscheduled: A contractor or other originator takes action because an STI product posted on the Web requires immediate removal or change. Reasons for this immediate action may include sensitivity issues, errors, etc. To avoid a broken link when removing the STI product, a contractor or other originator may choose to replace the STI product with a statement that would inform the user that the STI product is no longer available and that gives contact information for help. In a timely manner, the contractor or other originator would also provide to OSTI a revised announcement record describing the change.

Scheduled: A contractor or other originator has decided to stop hosting specific STI products (i.e., STI products are being permanently removed from a site-hosted server); therefore, the site intends to transfer the STI product to OSTI for public access. The DOE O 241.1A Contractor Requirements Document requires contractors and other originators to notify OSTI of its intent to permanently remove an STI product from a site-hosted server. A minimum of 30 days advance notice is recommended before removing the STI product from the contractor’s or other originator’s server. The contractor or other originator will also provide to OSTI a revised announcement record to describe the change (i.e., to change the location of the document from a site URL to submission of the document to OSTI).

As required in DOE O 241.1A, the contractor must notify OSTI when permanently removing STI products from site-hosted servers. This notification allows OSTI to ensure continued availability of STI product after its removal from the site-hosted server. Sites can revise the announcement record and upload the full-text through E-Link or submit the information by batch upload. OSTI will then ensure the STI product is included in the central repository.

Announcement records for classified STI are made available through the Classified Energy Online (CLEO) system and other means to authorized users in accordance with need-to-know and other security requirements.

Classified STI may be obtained by authorized individuals in accordance with need-to-know by contacting OSTI through approved channels.

6.7 Archiving and Retention of the STI Product

Whether submitted directly to OSTI or harvested by OSTI from the site’s public server, DOE STI R&D reports have a permanent retention schedule under the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Job Number NCI-430-76-2. OSTI will provide STI to NARA consistent with that schedule.

OSTI serves as the ultimate repository for DOE’s STI and will manage the collection for long-term retrieval. Often the collection maintained at OSTI is the only source for historic or specific technical information (such as for closed-out projects). OSTI will address NARA requirements and make recommendations for archiving and storing DOE STI electronic records.

Closeout project, program, and site records should be checked to determine whether all STI contained in the records has been transmitted to OSTI. This requirement is implied on the last page of DOE Research and Development Records Retention Schedule, N1-434-96-9. (This schedule can be obtained from the site records manager or at http://cio.doe.gov/Records/doeprs.htm.)  STI that has not been transmitted to OSTI should be provided in electronic form (i.e., acceptable electronic format, digitized/scanned, etc.). Acceptable electronic formats are located in Part II, Section 6.3, of this Guide.

Unclassified, unlimited document information is provided to requesters through electronic delivery, primarily through the base product, the DOE Information Bridge. DOE STI products requested by DOE and DOE contractors in paper form are available from OSTI, provided that such products have previously been made available to OSTI (through either electronic submission to OSTI or electronic linkage using acceptable formats). OSTI is responsible for ensuring that NTIS and GPO obtain DOE documents. As DOE’s NTIS and GPO affiliate, OSTI will coordinate with NTIS and GPO to ensure that unclassified, unlimited STI products are available to the public. Table 11 includes agreed-upon STI submission formats, associated access formats for Web view and download using the DOE Information Bridge, and interim archival formats.