Final Scientific/Technical Report Guidelines for ESS-Funded 10 CFR Part 605 Assistance Agreements and Interagency Agreements

March 2022

The following guidance for a Final Scientific/Technical Report is provided for DOE Environmental System Science (ESS)-funded research efforts supported through 10 CFR Part 605 Assistance Agreements or Interagency Agreements. In accordance with DOE Office of Science requirements, the Final Scientific/Technical Report is to be submitted to the DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) E-Link system within 90 days after the final project period ends or the award is terminated. Final Scientific/Technical Reports must be submitted in the Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) and be one integrated PDF file that contains all text, tables, diagrams, photographs, schematic, graphs, and charts.

In addition to submission of the Final Scientific/Technical Report, accepted manuscripts are also required to be submitted to OSTI’s E-Link system no later than one year after the date each journal article is published online. Details are provided in the downloadable Word file: DOE Federal Reporting Checklist and Instructions, DOE F-4600.2 (see “Scientific and Technical Reporting” section Journal Article/Accepted Manuscripts, pp. 5-6). Final peer-reviewed, accepted manuscripts will be made available through DOE PAGES and OSTI.GOV one year after the article is published online. OSTI has prepared a video tutorial to demonstrate how to submit a manuscript. Watch the video here.

For reproducibility, validation, and technology transfer activities, any data and/or modeling outputs developed through ESS funding are expected to be provided to the Environmental Systems Science Data Infrastructure for a Virtual Ecosystem (ESS-DIVE), at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. ESS-DIVE is the data repository for Earth and environmental sciences data generated/created/obtained through ESS-funded research.

DO NOT include any personally identifiable information (e.g., birth dates, SSN #s) in the Final Scientific/Technical Report because these reports may be included in publicly searchable databases and confidentiality of information provided cannot be assured.

The Final Scientific/Technical Report must include the following information and any other information identified under Special Instructions on the Federal Assistance Reporting Checklist (which is included in the award documentation):

Cover Page

  • Identify the project title; name of recipient/name of principal investigator/project director and their e-mail address; DOE award number; period of project performance; consortium/teaming member names and their institutional affiliations; and report submission date.
  • Display prominently on the cover of the report any authorized distribution limitation notices, such as patentable material or protected data.  Reports delivered without such notices may be deemed to have been furnished with unlimited rights, and the Government assumes no liability for the disclosure, use or reproduction of such reports.

Executive Summary/Abstract

  • Include an overview of the project goals and objectives, as well as a discussion of: a) how the research findings/results add to the understanding of the area investigated; b) the technical effectiveness and economic feasibility of the methods or techniques investigated or demonstrated; or c) how the project is otherwise of benefit to the public.  The discussion should be a minimum of one paragraph and written in terms understandable by an educated individual.

Main Body

  • Provide the original goals and objectives of the project, and outline whether they have been accomplished. If they were changed, provide the revised goals and objectives and explain how those were accomplished.
  • Summarize project activities undertaken during the entire period of funding, including original hypotheses, approaches used, problems encountered and any departure from originally planned methodology, and an assessment of their impact on the project results. Include, if applicable, facts, figures/graphics, analyses, and assumptions used during the life of the project to support the conclusions.

Products and Accomplishments

  • List of publications (with DOIs), conference presentations, dissertations or thesis titles, or other public releases of results (e.g., news releases) generated from the award. If not previously provided to the DOE Program Manager, identified in Block 15 of the Assistance Agreement Cover Page, send copies of each publication via e-mail to the DOE Program Manager.
  • List of any inventions/patent applications, licensing agreements, physical collections, audio or video recordings, educational aids or curricula, instruments or equipment, leveraged activities, and scientific or other awards that resulted from the funded effort.
  • List of any data and/or modeling outputs developed under the award for reproducibility and technology transfer activities, including:
    • DOIs obtained for data sets, or web sites for any posted data or graphics;
    • DOIs obtained for model runs/outputs, or web sites for any posted model runs/outputs; and
    • Links to data sets or model runs stored/available through ESS-DIVE.
  • List of software/codes that were created, as well as any previously existing software/codes that were modified or enhanced under the award for reproducibility and technology transfer activities. Contact the DOE Program Manager to ensure the ESS Software Disclosure, Copyright Review, Abstract, and Export Control Review form has been completed for any created, modified, or enhanced software/code. In the Final Scientific/Technical Report, for each software package/code, provide:
    • Model name, version, description, key assumptions, source and intended use;
    • Hardware requirements; and
    • Information on how the broad scientific community would be able to access the software/code (i.e., via GitHub).
  • List of project participants supported by the award, including students/postdocs trained.

For additional details, please refer to the DOE Federal Reporting Checklist and Instructions downloadable Word file: DOE F-4600.2