NTP Publication Aims and Scope

All NTP documents are in the public domain. PDF copies of the published articles can be freely shared and distributed without permission from either NTP, NIEHS/DTT, or the authors. There is no copyright for these U.S. government publications; however, permission should be obtained from the authors before using or presenting the contents of a research article in a new way – for example, reproducing only one figure.

NIEHS/DTT follows the Public Health Services Policies on Research Misconduct (42 CFR 93)

• All collaborators and contributors are listed in the “About this Report” section, including their roles in the research and development of each report or monograph.

• U.S. Government staff, including staff involved with the NTP at FDA, NIOSH, and NIEHS, submit on an annual basis a financial disclosure form for review by their Ethics Office to identify potential financial conflicts of interest. Staff are asked to recuse themselves from topics for which they have real or apparent conflicts of interest. All contracts awarded by the government include mechanisms to avoid or manage COI, including those contributing to NTP reports. Contributors and collaborators outside government staff or government contractors are asked to provide COI disclosure forms.

• Reviewers must disclose to any actual or potential competing interests, both financial and nonfinancial, that could reasonably be perceived as relevant to the report or monograph under review. Competing interests include recent (within 10 years) or current mentor–mentee relationships, appointments in the same department or organization, personal or familial relationships, service on advisory boards that oversee the research under review, close collaborations, or membership in organizations that hold ideological views that are contradictory to the theme or topic under review. Potential competing interests must be disclosed, but do not automatically disqualify a potential reviewer.
• Reviewers must disclose all actual or potential competing financial interests occurring within the last 12 months, the required reporting period for U.S. Government staff, including but not limited to:
  • Grant support
  • Relevant employment (past, present, or firm offer of future)
  • Patents (pending or applied)
  • Payment for expert witness or testimony
  • Personal financial interests by the author(s), immediate family members, or institutional affiliations that may gain or lose financially through publication of the article
  • Forms of compensation, including travel funding, consultancies, board positions, patent and royalty arrangements, stock shares, or bonds
  • Diversified mutual funds or investment trusts do not constitute a competing financial interest.

• NIEHS staff follows the NIH Data Sharing policy established in 2003.
• NTP experimental studies are conducted in compliance with laboratory health and safety guidelines and FDA Good Laboratory Practices Regulations and are subject to retrospective quality assurance audits prior to peer review. Literature-based assessments follow pre-specified protocols that apply systematic review methods including a pre-defined process for the identification, selection, quality assessment, and integration of information. Established criteria are used to reach conclusions for both experimental studies and literature-based hazard assessments.

• U.S. Government staff follow the Public Health Services Policies on Research Misconduct (42 CFR 93).
• Research Involving Animals: Animal care and use are in accordance with the Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care and Use of Animals. All animal studies are conducted in an animal facility accredited by AAALAC International. Studies are approved by appropriate Animal Care and Use Committees and conducted in accordance with all relevant animal care and use policies and applicable federal, state, and local regulations and guidelines.
• Protection of Human Subjects: U.S. Government staff follow the requirements found in 45 CFR 46: Protection of Human Subjects.
• Collaborators and Contributors: All collaborators and contributors, along with their specific role in the study and report development, are cited within each report.
• Originality of Submissions: All NTP reports and monographs represent original research or evaluations/assessments. Some materials may have been presented at a scientific meeting or deposited in a preprint service such as bioRxiv but have not been previously published in print or online.

• Authors and collaborators revise draft reports based on reviewers’ comments.
• Series Coordinators submit an Approval Package for review and approval decision to the Scientific Director, NIEHS/DTT-Associate Director, NTP, which includes:
  • A marked-up version showing tracked changes.
  • A clean version with all changes accepted.
  • Anonymized reviewer comments and staff responses.

• The Scientific Director, NIEHS/DTT-Associate Director, NTP is briefed, as needed, regarding revisions to NTP Reports and Monographs in response to peer-review comments.

• NTP relies on the integrity of all authors to accurately disclose competing financial interests. Authors can expect scrutiny of their statements by the editors, reviewers, and readership. NTP screens all its reviewers for competing interests, including financial interests, and reaffirms that their competing interests have not changed prior to the peer review.

• NTP Reports and Monographs series are continuously published immediately upon completion.

• NTP reports and monographs are available free of charge on the NTP website and cataloged in PubMed, a free resource developed and maintained by the National Library of Medicine (part of the National Institutes of Health). Data for experimental studies are included in NTP’s Chemical Effects in Biological Systems database. Data for health hazard assessments and literature-based monographs may be included in the Health Assessment Workspace Collaborative or provided as supplemental files in appendices.

• NTP reports and monographs are cataloged in PubMed, a free resource developed and maintained by the National Library of Medicine (part of the National Institutes of Health). Some reports and monographs may be found in National Technical Information Service (NTIS).