NRPM Frequently Asked Questions

1. Should I publish in the national series, or my region's series? answer
2. Do I need to download the Instructions to Authors Manual to write a new report? answer
3. What are the preferred file formats to send in for final review? answer
4. Is there additional guidance for managing the IRMA record for my NRPM report? answer
5. For the national series of NRR and NRTR, on the cover and back cover where it says "Natural Resource Stewardship and Science" in the banner and has Fort Collins as the address on the back, why can´t I substitute the name of my NPS unit (e.g., park or network or NRSS Division) and use my unit´s address and website on the back? answer
6. If a report for work funded by the I&M program has already been published in a USGS or university numbered series, do we also need to put it in one of these NPS report series? answer
7. We want to publish a report that was funded by the NPS, but conducted by a USGS researcher who contributed their salary and other in-kind support to the project. The NPS and USGS contributed equally to the work. Can we put both the USGS logo and NPS arrowhead on the front cover? answer
8. Why are there 3 options (Good, Better, Best) for formatting reports, and how do I decide which option to go with? answer
9. I have an annual summary report that is only 4 pages long, but I want to get it into the NRTR series. Do I need to add a cover and back cover and title page and table of contents and other pages? answer
10. Should monitoring plans and monitoring protocols be published in the NRR or NRTR Series? answer
11. Can I take a report that was written and peer reviewed before 2006, and before the new guidelines were developed, and have a report number assigned to it so that it is part of the NRR or NRTR series? Does the year of publication need to be changed? answer

Answers to Questions

1. Should I publish in the national series, or my region's series?
   The vast majority of reports should be published in the national series- most regions do not maintain an active regional series. The minimum standards for peer review and formatting are the same for national and regional series. The guidelines allow for regions to maintain a separate regional series and a separate review and approval process in the event that it is needed, but in almost all cases, the material in the report will be of interest to readers outside of the park or network that contributes the report, and publication in the national series is encouraged. The official distinction is that regional series address natural resource topics that are of interest and applicability to a specialized or limited geographical readership in the National Park Service and to others charged with managing natural resources, and may feature preliminary data and results of study or summaries of ongoing study for rapid dissemination to park managers.
2. Do I need to download the Instructions to Authors Manual to write a new report?
   A vast majoirty of authors and editors do not need to download the manual. The document templates provide software-specific manuscript format examples and user guidance for most potential formatting issues. The manual was written as a detailed refrence to help authors with things not specifically covered in the templates, for professional editors, and NPS puclication policy experts.
3. What are the preferred file formats to send in for final review?
   We accept both MS Word and Adobe Acrobat files. If the final draft was created using:
   
   • MS Word - the MS Word version of the final draft is preferred (vast majority of reports). This will save everyone involved time and effort during the final editing stages. Publishing in MS Word can be tricky, and we often need to see the actual MS Word file to figure out how to fix something.
   • Adobe InDesign - the PDF version is preferred. Adobe InDesign files are much more stable and predictable than MS Word files, and end-users tend to have expert-level experience using this proprietary software.
4. Is there additional guidance for managing the IRMA record for my NRPM report?
   Yes. Click here to download the Suggested IRMA Procedures for Nationally Published NRTR, NRR, and NRDS Reports. This informal technical guide is also available for download in the left-hand navigation on this site. Topics covered in the guide include:
   • Suggested steps and procedures for uploading and managing the final report in IRMA.
   • A glossary of common terms and explanations of the related concepts used on the site.
   • Screenshots of all major taks, to better help the user navigate the upload and editing process
   • An overview of the implications and ramifications of reports marked as containing sensitive and/or proprietary information.
5. For the national series of NRR and NRTR, on the cover and back cover where it says "Natural Resource Stewardship and Science" in the banner and has Fort Collins as the address on the back, why can´t I substitute the name of my NPS unit (e.g., park or network or NRSS Division) and use my unit´s address and website on the back?
   The front and back cover need to have a consistent look, and show where the series is published. As an example, a book might say "John Wiley & Sons, New York" because that´s the publisher, and it will always list New York because that´s where the book is published, regardless of where the author lives. The national series are published by the Natural Resource Stewardship and Science office in Fort Collins, and copies of any report in the series will be available through the url on the back cover. The title page and back of the title page will list the authors´ name and address and website and NPS unit, and will tell people where they can get copies of the report. The banner on the front cover should read Natural Resource Stewardship and Science, without the name of a city. The back cover should include the address for the Fort Collins office where the series is published, and the NatureNet website (www.nature.nps.gov), although if another office or network insists on putting their office's name and address and website on the back cover, exceptions will be allowed.
6. If a report for work funded by the I&M program has already been published in a USGS or university numbered series, do we also need to put it in one of these NPS report series?
   No. As long as the results appear in some other numbered series or publication outlet and get into a bibliography or catalog so that managers, planners, and scientists can find them 20 years from now, the results do not also need to be published in the NPS series.
7. We want to publish a report that was funded by the NPS, but conducted by a USGS researcher who contributed their salary and other in-kind support to the project. The NPS and USGS contributed equally to the work. Can we put both the USGS logo and NPS arrowhead on the front cover?
   Yes, it is possible to put other agency logos on the cover in special cases where another agency contributed as much or more than the NPS did, but this is discouraged. The series is published by the NPS Natural Resource Stewardship and Science, and the cover and back cover show where the series is published and should have a similar look and feel across reports. The title page will list all of the authors and their affiliations and addresses, and the back of the title page explains who funded the work and where to get copies and more information.
8. Why are there 3 options (Good, Better, Best) for formatting reports, and how do I decide which option to go with?
   The "Good" option uses readily-available fonts and minimal formatting, does not require any specialized software or desktop publishing skills, and provides some minimum formatting standards that everyone can use. The majority of reports will follow this option, which is intended more for routine reports that are distributed primarily by posting them on the internet and for which a large readership is not expected. Also, draft reports in MS Word that are sent out for peer review will mostly use this option, even if the final report will follow the "Best" option, since the proprietary Frutiger fonts or advanced layout of the "Best" option may cause problems for peer reviewers. For reports that will be printed (especially those using color) and more than about 50 hardcopies will be distributed, or for which a large readership is expected, contributors should find or hire someone who has the training and software to produce a final report with a 2.5-column layout following the "Best" formatting guidelines that are consistent with the "Communicating the National Park Service Mission" design standards and Director's Order 52, which use Frutiger and NPS Rawlinson fonts and require desktop publishing skills. The "Better" format is somewhere in-between these two options.
   More information on the "Good," "Better" & "Best" format for reports
9. I have an annual summary report that is only 4 pages long, but I want to get it into the NRTR series. Do I need to add a cover and back cover and title page and table of contents and other pages?
   All reports in either series must have the correct front and back covers and title page. Table of contents and other pages are not necessary. We want to make sure that the information in the report gets into searchable catalogs and gets archived and can be easily found 20 years from now, so even short, routine reports should be published in the series.
10. Should monitoring plans and monitoring protocols be published in the NRR or NRTR Series?
    They should be published in the NRR series. The NRTR typically follows the "Introduction - Methods - Results - Discussion" type organization that is standard for many scientific journal publications and technical reports. Reports organized into Chapters, such as monitoring plans and protocols, are better suited for the NRR, which has a flexible "open format" layout. SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) can be included in the report in a section following References, or they could be included as appendixes in the main report.
11. Can I take a report that was written and peer reviewed before 2006, and before the new guidelines were developed, and have a report number assigned to it so that it is part of the NRR or NRTR series? Does the year of publication need to be changed?
    Yes, you can take an existing "legacy" report and get it into the modern series with only minimal reformatting, assuming that it was adequately peer reviewed when it was first produced. The minimum needed is to produce a cover, back cover, title page, and back of title page that match the new standards, and to submit a Manuscript Submittal Form to document that the report received adequate peer review at one time, and does not contain any sensitive data. We can assign a Report Number for past years, so the year does not need to change.