Natural Resource Publications Management

Natural Resource Publications Management (NRPM)

Natural Resource Publications consist of five series: Natural Resource Technical Report (NRTR), Natural Resource Report (NRR), Natural Resource Data Series (NRDS), Scientific Monograph, and Park Science.

This site provides information about Natural Resource Technical Reports (NRTR), Natural Resource Reports (NRR), and the Natural Resource Data Series (NRDS).

View reports published in these series:

• NRTR Reports
• NRR Reports
• NRDS Reports

This site also outlines the procedures used by NPS employees and our land management and research partners to publish new reports in these series. You can find more detailed information on preparing, submitting and managing NRTR, NRR and NRDS reports by following the links located in the left-hand column of this website.

Manuscripts must adhere to a set of minimum standards and are peer-reviewed to ensure that information is scientifically credible, technically accurate, appropriately written for the intended audience, and designed and published in a professional manner.

Choosing the Correct Series for a New Report

The guidelines for choosing the correct series were updated in 2012. The previous guidelines did not work well for the non-biological sciences, cross-disciplinary endeavors, etc.

The Natural Resource Technical Reports (NRTR): used to disseminate results of scientific studies in the physical, biological, and social sciences for both the advancement of science and the achievement of the National Park Service mission. The series provides contributors with a forum for displaying comprehensive data that are often deleted from journals because of page limitations.

Any peer reviewed report that presents quantifiable data, data analysis, and some sort of interpretive discussion concerning those results may be published in the NRTR series. NRTR reports should also have very little or no content pertaining to procedural guidance, planning, NPS policy, or land management issues. Examples of NRTR reports include:

• inventory reports
• monitoring reports
• species status reports
• research study reports

Natural Resource Reports (NRR): used to disseminate high-priority, current natural resource management information with managerial application. The series targets a general, diverse audience, and may contain NPS policy considerations or address sensitive issues of management applicability.

Any peer reviewed report can be published in the NRR series. However, the following types of reports should always be published in the NRR report series:

• procedural reports (protocols, Standard Operating Procedures, etc.)
• planning reports (monitoring plans, data management plans, etc.)
• reports that have little or no quantifiable data or data analysis
• any report with a significant focus on NPS policy and/or land management issues (Nat rural Resource Condition Assessments, land management reports, etc.)

Natural Resource Data Series (NRDS): intended for timely release of basic data sets and data summaries. Care has been taken to assure accuracy of raw data values, but a thorough analysis and interpretation of the data has not been completed. Consequently, the initial analyses of data in these reports are provisional and subject to change. Examples of NRDS reports include:

• preliminary data summary reports (release of data results prior to a more detailed analysis)
• periodic/annual data summary reports for long-term monitoring or research projects

TOP OF PAGE