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What is the difference between a cooperator publication and a USGS Restricted-File Federal Interagency Report (RFFIR)? [188]

By Office of Science Quality and Integrity

A cooperator publication with scientific contributions from USGS authors is released by the cooperator on a publicly accessible website and is citable. Conversely, RFFIRs are limited-use USGS publication series information products prepared by the USGS and provided as confidential communications only to other government or international entities, and are not citable. [Read more]

A cooperator publication with scientific contributions from USGS authors, is released by the cooperator on a publicly accessible website and is a citable publication. Conversely, RFFIRs (formerly called Administrative Reports) are limited-use USGS publication series information products (SM 1100.3) prepared by the USGS and provided as confidential communications only to other Federal Government agencies and foreign government or international entities for which USGS performs work. Unlike cooperator publications, RFFIRs are not citable information products because they are not published (refer to the RFFIR FAQs).