Policy on Technical Publications
1. Purpose
This policy addresses the labwide management of technical publications at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), which is managed by Fermi Research Alliance, LLC (FRA).
2. Scope
This policy applies to all technical publications at Fermilab, including preprints, technical reports and memos, manuscripts, theses, presentations, slides, and posters, intended for distribution outside the Department of Energy (DOE) complex and produced pursuant to Prime Contract No. DE-AC02-07CH11359 (Prime Contract or the contract) as a direct and integral part of the lab’s mission to advance the understanding of the fundamental nature of matter and energy, regardless of subject matter.
3. Applicability
This policy applies to FRA (including all legal entities under its exclusive control) and all its employees, subcontractors, Fermilab users and affiliates, Fermilab authorized guests, and Fermilab business visitors (FRA sponsored or supported personnel) who generate technical publications. When this policy applies to subcontractors, it will be explicitly mentioned in the contracting documents.
4. Effective Date and Date Reviewed/Updated
This policy went into effect on May 1, 2023.
5. Policy
It is FRA’s policy to manage technical publications produced under the contract as a direct and integral part of the lab’s mission and ensure review and broad availability of technical publications to all customer segments by making it available to DOE’s central coordinating office, the Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI).
All FRA sponsored or supported personnel who report work done using Fermilab resources, shall submit their technical publications to the Technical Publications Office before releasing them publicly.
The requirements, processes, and systems are documented at the Technical Publications website: https://techpubs.fnal.gov/.
6. Definitions
Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) is information with a federal aspect that requires safeguarding or dissemination controls. A federal aspect could include federal funding, or federally-requested research projects. Research and projects whose ultimate destination is open publication are not considered CUI.
Fermilab is the physical site and property that is the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.
Fermi Research Alliance, LLC is the operator and manager of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory under Department of Energy Prime Contract No. DE-AC02-07CH11359 and is the principal employer of personnel working at Fermilab.
Technical publications are information products deemed by the originator to be useful beyond the Fermilab/DOE complex (i.e., intended to be published or disseminated), in any format or medium, which contain findings and technological innovations resulting from research and development (R&D) efforts and scientific and technological work of scientists, researchers, and engineers, whether Federal employee, contractor, financial assistance recipient, or any other FRA sponsored or supported personnel. Technical publications may also convey the results of demonstration and commercial application activities in addition to experiments, observations, simulations, studies, and analyses. Technical publications include but are not limited to any of the following:
- Papers submitted for publication in journals and periodicals
- Papers and presentations submitted to conference and seminar proceedings
- Papers submitted for dissemination via public websites
- Technical reports and memos
- Manuscripts
- Slides or posters presented at conferences or seminars
- Theses
7. Responsibilities
The Laboratory Director is responsible for all programs at Fermilab and delegates the management of the Technical Publications Program to the Chief Information Officer.
The Chief Information Officer is responsible for the management of the Technical Publications Program required by DOE O 241.1B Scientific and Technical Information Management.
The Technical Publications Administrator is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Technical Publications Program. The Fermilab Technical Publications Administrator maintains and updates the Technical Publications website, https://techpubs.fnal.gov/, to implement this policy.
The Technical Publications Office is responsible for ensuring that the Technical Publications Program is maintained in accordance with the requirements of DOE O 241.1B Chg 1 (Admin Chg), Scientific and Technical Information Management, DOE O 471.7, Controlled Unclassified Information, the Intellectual Property Policy, the Personally Identifiable Information Policy, and the Policy on Export Control.
Specifically, it will:
a. Ensure that technical publications are reviewed for Export Control and Intellectual Property concerns.
b. Upon approval after necessary reviews, enter a record of the technical publication into the INSPIRE database and place a PDF file of it on the Fermilab Public Web server. The PDF file and associated metadata of the technical publication will then be sent to OSTI.
c. Create training for employees, subcontractors, users, affiliates, and any other persons that are engaged in research and for whom the training is specified on their Individual Training Needs Assessment, informing them of their responsibilities.
d. Review technical publications to ensure that no Personally Identifiable Information is included.
f. Sign all forms transferring ownership of copyright.
g. Keep track of all Controlled Unclassified Information- (CUI)containing documents and technical publications that are sent to OSTI. Tracking of CUI-containing documents and technical publications will be handled through the OSTI E-Link service.
h. Notify OSTI when formerly sent documents are decontrolled.
Line Managers are responsible for the supervision of their personnel and the execution of activities and administration of sites assigned to them and shall take necessary actions to ensure this policy is implemented and performance is monitored and corrected as necessary. The responsibility for compliance with this policy starts at the individual level and broadens as it progresses upward through the line organization.
FRA Sponsored or Supported Personnel who generate technical publications are responsible for ensuring their work is submitted to the Technical Publications Office for approval before it is publicly released. In the case of papers published in peer reviewed journals, they are also responsible for submitting to the Technical Publications Office the final accepted manuscript, unless the article is published in an open access journal and an open access license was signed.
Specifically, technical authors will:
- Submit their work to https://techpubs.fnal.gov/ for approval before its public release.
- Upon acceptance of a preprint in a refereed journal, submit the accepted manuscript to the Technical Publications Office.”
Spokespersons are responsible for ensuring that their collaboration’s technical publications are submitted to the Technical Publications Office for approval before they are publicly released. In the case of papers published in peer reviewed journals, spokespersons are responsible for ensuring that the technical publications arising from their collaborations are submitted as final accepted manuscripts to the Technical Publications Office unless the technical publications are published in open access journals and open access licenses were signed.
The Office of General Counsel is responsible for reviewing technical publications for Export Control and Intellectual Property concerns.
8. Authorities
Prime Contract No. DE-AC02-07CH11359 Clause I.104 - DEAR 970.5227-2 Rights in Data-technology Transfer (Dec. 2000)(Deviation)(AL 2021-04)
DOE O 241.1B Chg 1 (Admin Chg), Scientific and Technical Information Management
DOE O 471.7, Controlled Unclassified Information
Intellectual Property Policy
Personally Identifiable Information Policy
Policy on Export Control
9. Owner
The Chief Information Officer is the owner of this policy.
10. Review Cycle
This policy is to be reviewed every 3 years after issuance.
11. Communication Plan
The requirements of this policy shall be communicated by the Chief Information Officer or a delegate to FRA employees, FRA subcontractors, and Fermilab users and affiliates through online training, News at Work reminders, and reference in other communications, such as the Procedures for Researchers document. This policy shall be available in the Fermilab policies database.