Communications Standards Updates: Publications

Notifications about changes made to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's (EERE's) communications standards are posted regularly, highlighting the latest updates to the EERE Communications Standards and Guidelines website and important pages to note.

Today, we're taking a look at standards for DOE and EERE publications, including any produced by its tech offices. Publications are more than just branded reports; they can include templates and physical media, such as posters or exhibits.

Executive Secretariat Process

As part of the publication approval process, identify at the beginning stages of your publication what level of review is required for your document. DOE technical reports are required to go through the Executive Secretariat process: 

Document Management. The Executive Secretariat receives, controls, and tracks correspondence and other written and electronic documents, including classified material. These documents are either addressed to the Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Under Secretaries, or members of the Office of the Secretary staff, or they are sent to the Department from the White House, the Congress, and Tribal leaders. In addition, The Executive Secretariat sets standards for document preparation through its Correspondence Guide. Information and guidance on the standards for document preparation, document handling and concurrence (or Collaborative Action Process [CAP]), are available to Departmental personnel under the Executive Secretariat on the Department’s Powerpedia, available to DOENet users only. 

EERE internal users should review the Executive Secretariat FAQs document on i2 for more information about what products require this level of review.

Publications Requirements

EERE-branded publications, regardless if they are printed or digital, should meet the following requirements. All publications should:

• Follow EERE Brand Guidelines and templates during development, including logo use and placement; color palette requirements; and typeface usage and weights.
• Follow EERE's style guide, which contains language guidelines for print and web publications.
• Comply with Section 508 with extra consideration for accessibility when designing products for in-person use, such as posters or exhibit materials.
• Follow DOE and EERE's guidance on using artificial intelligence.
• Be printed at a Government Printing Office (GPO)-approved printing office, typically either DOE Headquarters Print Services or a printing office at a national laboratory.
• Have a GPO product identification (publication) number and publication date issued from a GPO-approved printer.
• Include a legal disclaimer and, if developed by a third party, a publication acknowledgement statement.
• Be submitted directly to the Office of Science and Technical Information through its E-Link portal if containing any level of scientific or technical information.

Questions?

If you have questions about EERE publications, contact the EERE Products and Branding Team.

If you have any questions or suggestions related to communications standards, please email the EERE Comms Standards Team.