STI PRODUCT TYPE FACTSHEET FOR DOE LABORATORY RESEARCHERS:

Scientific and Technical Software

ABOUT STI

In the course of performing research and development (R&D) and other scientific and technological work, researchers funded by the

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) produce scientific and technical information (STI) to document and disseminate their findings.

STI includes products such as journal articles, technical reports, conference presentations, books, and more. Through the Scientific and Technical Information Program (STIP), the DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) collaborates with people across the DOE complex, including Headquarters programs, field offices, national laboratories, and other facilities. The STIP partnership ensures that the results of DOE-funded work are identified,

disseminated, and preserved. Thus, OSTI collects STI produced across the DOE laboratory and facility complex as well as from financial assistance recipients.

DEFINITION

Scientific/technical software is computer software* that has been developed and/or modified during work supported by DOE. As a form of STI, it is a result of research and development or other science and technology work and is a stable, usable version expected to be useful to others (that is, its use is not limited to a single site due to specific technology or equipment). As DOE's software management facility, OSTI manages DOE CODE, (website: https://www.osti.gov/doecode/; email: doecode@osti.gov) the software services platform and search tool for DOE-funded code.

*The terms “software” and “code” are used interchangeably.

SUBMISSIONS

Each DOE laboratory has a site program to manage scientific and technical information produced under the contract and to make it available to DOE’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information. STI and Software points of contact are at https://www.osti.gov/stip/about/stip-community#STIManagers.

DOE national laboratories and other DOE facilities/contractors who have developed and/or modified software during work supported by DOE or during work carried out for others at DOE facilities are required to announce a record of the software to the Department of Energy, if the software meets the following criteria:

the software meets the definition of STI https://www.osti.gov/stip/about/sti-defined.

a stable, usable, documented version of the software exists (i.e., the software is not under initial development);

the software has undergone all appropriate reviews for sensitivity and export control.

For announcement to DOE, there are basic metadata field requirements; however, other optional/non‐mandatory data fields should be included during announcement when possible.

DOE CODE offers two paths to provide code. Users can (1) Submit code to DOE CODE, and (2) Announce code to DOE for official review and release through DOE CODE. Codes in later stages of development are the primary use case for the latter functionality. Project Type, as follows, determines when uploading of code is required. Source code is required when announcing codes with Project Type Closed Source (CS) and with Project Type Open Source, No Publicly Available Repository (OS-NPAR). For Project Type CS, a compiled binary may be provided as a last resort when the code is not available. The code is required for preservation purposes only; i.e., not for distribution by OSTI.

STI AVAILABILITY

OSTI.GOV is the primary search tool for DOE science, technology, and engineering research and development results and the organizational hub for information about the DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information.

OSTI.GOV makes discoverable over 70 years of research results from DOE

and its predecessor agencies. Research results include journal articles/accepted manuscripts and related metadata; technical reports; scientific research datasets and collections; scientific software; patents; conference and workshop papers; books and theses; and multimedia. OSTI.GOV provides access to this DOE STI by offering numerous easy-to-use search capabilities and customization options; and for the DOE community, additional citation information is available to help researchers evaluate article impact and find related research.

As the DOE software services platform and search tool for DOE-funded code, DOE CODE provides functionality for collaboration, archiving, and discovery of scientific and business software.

OSTI.GOV and DOE CODE are included in the Federal science portal Science.gov. Hosted by OSTI, Science.gov offers free access to research and development (R&D) results and scientific and technical information from more than 60 databases from scientific organizations across 13 federal agencies.

OSTI also works in close collaboration with Google and others, using Sitemap Protocols and other information industry standards to facilitate the discovery of DOE STI through widely used search engines.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION/CONTACTS

The STIP website at https://www.osti.gov/stip/

The DOE CODE website at https://www.osti.gov/doecode/

OSTI staff will respond to questions/suggestions sent to stip@osti.gov or doecode@osti.gov Questions related to software may be sent to doecode@osti.gov