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1.1 What
is the purpose of this chapter? This chapter:
A. Describes the requirements for
employees publishing scientific information in any outlet, including
Service reports, reports for other agencies, Journal of Fish and
Wildlife Management, North American Fauna, and non-Service
peer-review journals; and
B. Makes it clear that we do not
review these scientific publications for policy purposes.
1.2
What is the policy? Our policy is that for scientific publications within the scope of
this chapter, Service employees must:
A. Include a disclaimer on the
publication (see section 1.4), and
B. Provide a copy of the draft
publication to their supervisor to ensure the supervisor is aware of it.
Supervisory policy review or approval is not implied or required.
1.3 What is the scope of this
chapter? This chapter:
A.
Applies to
publishing scientific information anywhere if:
(1) An employee either writes it
during official duty hours or writes it based primarily on knowledge he or
she acquires during duty hours, or
(2) The content of the article is
based on scientific activities that the Service funded in whole or in part,
includes the author’s Service position title, or refers to the author’s
Service duty station in the author affiliations.
B. Does not apply to:
(1) Publishing personal expressions of
information that do not include the author’s Service position title or
refer to the author’s Service duty station in the author affiliations.
These include:
(a) Articles and reports an
employee writes on his or her own time that are not related to projects and
activities the employee performs for the Service, and
(b) Letters, editorials, essays, or
other documents an employee writes on his or her own time for reasons not
related to Service work.
(2) Scientific information we
publish as official Service positions or policy, such as findings in Federal
Register notices, rulemakings, official reports from Program offices,
Service Manual chapters, etc. These types of documents undergo extensive
Service review for policy implications that we define elsewhere (e.g., 011 FW 2, Part
202, etc.).
1.4 Why do we require a disclaimer and what does it say?
A. We require that authors add a
disclaimer because we do not specifically review the articles or reports
for policy implications, and they may or may not represent the official
views of the Service.
B. The
disclaimer must say:
‘‘The findings and conclusions in this article are those
of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service.’’
C. The disclaimer:
(1) Does not diminish the quality of the science that is being
reported or the credentials of the authors. We can still use these articles
and reports in legal processes and for developing official Service policy;
and
(2) Will be automatically attached to all articles
published in the Journal of Fish and
Wildlife Management and North
American Fauna. When authors submit articles to these
publications, they must confirm that they have read and understand this
chapter, and that they have provided a copy of the article to their
supervisor.
1.5 What happens if an employee
doesn’t include the disclaimer or provide a copy of an article to his or
her supervisor? This
chapter reflects the importance that we place on scientific publication and
shows a high level of trust and faith in employee conduct. We consider
failure to incorporate the disclaimer or provide articles to supervisors as
a possible violation of our Scientific Code of Professional Conduct (see 212 FW 7.6).
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