Technical Reports

Technical reports have become important in the scientific literature since WWII. They are generally produced in response to the requirements of research sponsored by government contracts and grants. Reporting on the progress of a project from the proposal, through progress reports, to the final report, these publications are often among the earliest communications about new research.

Hundreds of agencies and departments of the U.S. government sponsor research that produces technical reports. Just a few of these are the Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Agriculture (USDA), National Science Foundation (NSF), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA), and the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

International organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the United Nations (U.N.) also produce technical reports. Their websites provide information about searching for and obtaining publications.

Electronic Resources

National Technical Information Service (NTIS). NTIS provides access to unclassified U.S. government-funded scientific, technical, engineering, and business reports for hundreds of agencies, and their contractors and grantees. See Subject Coverage of the NTIS Collection.

Many other major indexing and abstracting databases cover technical reports.

Following are some databases of those available for authorized UM users only. Connect via the UM Libraries' Find Databases [Search Tools] page.

• AGRICOLA
• Biosis Previews
• EIS: Digests of Environmental Impact Statements
• Energy Citations Database (free to all)
• Inspec
• MathSciNet
• NTIS (via CSA)
• SciFinder Scholar (Chemical Abstracts)
• Toxicology Abstracts
• Toxline
• Water Resources Abstracts

Here are some databases open to all internet users:

• Federal R&D Project Summaries This site provides descriptions, awards, and project summaries of research sponsored by DOE, NIH, and NSF.
• The GrayLIT Network GrayLIT Network is a portal for technical reports located at the DOE, DOD, EPA and NASA. It hopes to add other agencies in time. The GrayLIT Network accesses the search engines of many collections of reports, so the user does not have to know the sponsoring agency.
• Gray Literature Subject Guide - University Library, State University of California, Long Beach. This excellent guide links to sources of technical reports.
• NTIS website offers free searching & for-fee electronic downloads of reports.
• University of Michigan College of Engineering Technical Reports The University of Michigan Reports (1916-2001) collection contains over 4,800 technical reports published by the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan.
• Virtual Technical Reports Center - University of Maryland Libraries. This extensive collection contains links to technical reports, preprints, reprints, dissertations, theses, and research reports of all kinds from hundreds of institutions and agencies (U.S. and International).

Print Resources

Report Series Codes Dictionary. 3rd ed. Detroit, MI: Gale Research 1986. Science Library Reference collection: Z 6945 .A2 D55 1986. This is a guide to more than 20,000 alphanumeric codes used to identify technical reports, arranged both by code and by corporate author.

Shapiro Science Library Copyright 2005, the Regents of the University of Michigan  Last Revised : June 18, 2007 Current url: http:www.lib.umich.edu/science/reference/srg/conf_pro/reports.html The University of Michigan University Library Questions or Comments?