Professional, Technical, and Data Quality Reviews for NASA STI Documents
Professional reviews (also called editorial and content reviews) are performed by individuals or groups with technical knowledge or background tempered by interdisciplinary expertise in program management, history, and/or education. Such reviews assess the quality of the document content in terms of its readability, communication of information, and suitability for a particular audience without focus on technical content.
Technical reviews are performed by peers having expertise within the technical discipline of the activity or research being documented. Such reviews assess the technical integrity and merit of the activity or research being performed and the results being documented without regard to the effectiveness of the document at communicating the information. See Table 1 for guidance on required reviews.
Data quality reviews or peer reviews (OMB “Guidelines
for Ensuring and Maximizing the Quality, Objectivity, Utility, and
Integrity of Information Disseminated by Federal Agencies (February
22, 2002)”) are inherent in technical reviews. NASA accepts and encourages
technical and data quality peer review by qualified external reviewers
or committees of external reviewers. The Agency also accepts technical
review by qualified internal reviewers or committees of internal
reviewers who are selected on the basis of technical expertise and
who do not have (or have disclosed) prior situations or personal
or funding issues that would affect their technical review. Peer
reviews must be conducted in an open and rigorous manner. Peer reviews
must also ensure that the data are reliable, unbiased, accurate,
complete, and have full documentation, and they must ensure that
circumstances that could affect data quality are identified and disclosed.
For information on NASA’s data quality guidelines, see http://www.sti.nasa.gov, STI-Related Information.
Table 1. NASA STI Report Series/Publication Type
Document
Type
|
Review
Requirement
|
---|---|
NASA STI Report Series |
|
TP
|
Technical review by committee of peers or expert single reviewer |
TM
|
Review by technical management |
CR
|
Review by NASA technical management or expert reviewer |
CP
|
Review by technical management |
SP
|
Professional review controlled by HQ Office or NASA Center |
TT
|
No technical review; some printing authorization required; permission to use copyrighted information must be obtained |
Non-STI |
Review by technical management and proofreading review |
Dissemination Reviews
NASA’s dissemination reviews are handled through the mandatory NF-1676, “NASA Scientific and Technical Information (STI) Document Availability Authorization (DAA)” review. NF-1676 review is NASA’s compliance review for the release of NASA STI by or for NASA through any channel or media. It also applies to the presentation of NASA STI at internal meetings or workshops at which foreign nationals may be present. The NF-1676 review not only encourages technical approval but also requires reviews for restricted access STI, such as national security classified information, export-controlled information, proprietary/sensitive STI, and documents disclosing an invention. A copy of the latest version of NF-1676 can be found at the NASA Electronic Forms site or via your Center’s forms manager or server.
For more information, contact the STI Help Desk at
email: help@sti.nasa.gov