Why do I have to submit my report to Scientific Publications?
All scientific and technical research funded by the U.S. Government or undertaken at facilities funded by the government must be made available for access by the public. The Department of Energy’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) maintains several databases for access (or open access) to this information. Our contract requires us to send all scientific and technical documents including journal and conference submissions, proceedings, books and book chapters, theses/dissertations, and formal programmatic progress and completion reports to OSTI. This requirement is described in more detail in LBNL’s policy on Scientific and Technical Publications Requirements.
In addition to sending your paper to OSTI, the Scientific Publications Office also sends it to the UC California Digital Library (CDL)/eScholarship public access database. Inclusion in this repository and in the OSTI database provides access to your paper by thousands of scientists worldwide, without paying subscription or other access fees. This directly affects the likelihood of your paper being downloaded, referenced, and cited in other scientific studies. In addition, citation metrics are a measurement used by DOE to determine the value of research done at LBNL and they directly influence funding decisions made by funding agencies. Berkeley Lab routinely uses these figures to support the significance and value of research being done at LBNL. Greater citation of your published works documents the value of your research within your program, and to other institutions interested in collaboration. Submitting your papers to OSTI also supports a model of sustainable scientific and scholarly publishing endorsed by most major academic and research institutions. To read more about this, visit the website for the Scholarly Publishing Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC).
What is the process for contracting with a commercial journal publisher?
First, check with your supervisor or division administration about your division’s specific process for publishing. Each division determines the most effective way for their organization to handle reviews, entering into a contract with the publisher and paying publishing charges from journals.
When your paper is accepted and you receive a copyright agreement form from the publisher, you must include the following Copyright Statement with the completed and signed form you return to the publisher:
This manuscript has been authored by an author at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The U.S. Government retains, and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges, that the U.S. Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes.
Note on Elsevier Publications
When submitting to Elsevier journals, email [email protected] and inform them that you are an LBNL author and need an amended agreement.
Contact Scientific Publications, x2633 ([email protected]), with any questions concerning publisher copyright compliance.
When and How should I submit my report to Scientific Publications?
Our publications management system (called "Elements", details at publications.lbl.gov) makes it easy to submit your work to Scientific Publications. In most cases, it will find your work in various commercial and public databases and inform you when it has done so. Once you get an email informing you that new publications have been found, please log in to the system using the link provided to claim or disclaim the publication. If you claim it, you will need to provide two items to be in compliance with our OSTI obligations:
- You should upload a public access version of the paper in .doc or .pdf form. The public access version of the paper can be the same as the published PDF, only if the work was published in an Open Access journal (e.g. Nature Communications) or you paid a closed-access journal additional fees to make your work open access. Most commonly, you will upload the final author's draft that you submitted to your publisher. This is the version that was accepted for publication after peer-review was complete but before proof stage or formatting in the journal's style. We understand that you may probably would prefer to submit the published version, but what you submit must not conflict with the journal’s copyright requirements. Any journal titling or unique formatting will create a problem vis a vis copyright. There is no reason to upload drafts for publications that are in development. However, if you notice a typo in something you have already uploaded you can upload a new file that will replace the old one. Contact [email protected] for assistance.
- You should know the name of the DOE office that funded your work, so that you can tag the work appropriately. Note that specific grant numbers will not appear in the publications management system, only the name of the DOE office funding the work: Basic Energy Sciences, EERE, etc.
Some of your publications may not appear in any of the databases that our system scrapes. In that case, we ask you to log into publications.lbl.gov and manually enter the relevant bibliographic data, as well as provide the final draft and funding information normally. Often, if the publication is already published, most of the bibliographic data will auto-fill after you have entered the DOI, so this is not particularly arduous.
What do I need to do to prepare to claim a document to Scientific Publications?
As stated above, before you claim your work in the system, you should have the final version on hand to upload. You should also know what DOE offices (if any) funded the work.
Review Berkeley Lab Policy Requirements
When you are ready to publish, you need to make sure that your paper complies with LBNL’s policy on Scientific and Technical Publications Requirements section D.2. This describes in detail the requirements for a title page (see example), credit line, author affiliation(s), copyright notice, and legal disclaimer, that must be included.
If your work is funded in part or whole by a non-DOE sponsor, be sure to use the credit line specified in your grant or agreement. Examples and information on where to find the credit line requirement in your agreement are available specifically for NIH. (Search for the word acknowledgement on the page).
All reports published in commercial journals, such as Nature, are copyrighted by the publisher as they appear in that publication. The original works, as written by LBNL employees, are copyrighted by UC Regents. These original works, including peer review comments, may be distributed by LBNL and other author affiliations, without restriction or fees. The original works may not contain indicia, formatting, logos or masthead of the commercial publishers, but should remain in their generic format, for submission to OSTI. Distributing this version or format of your paper saves the Lab time and money, as no fees are necessary for reprints, and you may make copies for distribution without expense to you. If you are not the corresponding or submitting author on a publication, we recommend that you ask your co-authors for a copy of the accepted manuscript for deposit in the publications management database.
Submit Required Copies
You will need to have a generic file of your report available for uploading to the Publications System. This file cannot have any journal specific content or formatting. .
Submit for Division Review
All publications must be reviewed within a division before being submitted per RPM Policy Scientific & Technical Publications Authorship and Review. Each division must have a procedure to ensure that a reasonable scientific process has been followed and the publication requirements in Scientific and Technical Publications Requirements above are met. Each division may also define any other requirements for their division review process.
Once I have submitted my report to Scientific Publications do I need to submit it anywhere else?
If the research being reported was funded solely by DOE, there are no other requirements.
If the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding was used, you are required to report the paper to NIH as well as DOE. For more information see the Sponsored Projects Office web site. Check with all your funding agencies for any other requirements.
Note that regardless of the source of funds, any work performed through LBNL must be submitted to the publications management database for DOE distribution.
How do I get more information about the Submission process?
For more information contact the Scientific Publication Coordinator at [email protected] or call x2633
What is an LBNL report number and why do I need one?
Our publications system no longer created report numbers automatically. If your division requires one for tracking, please contact [email protected] for help, or fill out this request form.
How do I get help using the Publications System?
If you need help with logging into the Publications System, technical support, help with the reports submission process, or help finding reports in the Publications System, contact [email protected] or x2633. To get a copy of a report not in the database, check this list of historical LBNL reports or contact [email protected].
How do I request further system training?
If you are interested in having a training session for your group, department or division, please contact [email protected], and we will work with you to schedule a convenient time. Monthly or quarterly division, department or group meetings often provide a good opportunity for this. Let us know if you would like us to attend one of your regularly scheduled meetings, or arrange a custom time to help your group with the LBNL publications management database.
