Web Policies


Accessibility/Section 508

The U.S. Department of Energy is committed to making its electronic and information technologies accessible to individuals with disabilities in accordance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. 794d), as amended in 1998. Send feedback or concerns related to the accessibility of this website to the Office of Science Webmaster mailbox.

For more information about Section 508, please visit the DOE Section 508 website.

  • This website is built to comply with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. Section 508 requires that individuals with disabilities, who are members of the public or are Federal employees, have access to and use of information and data comparable to that provided to the public at large, unless it is determined that such access would impose undue burden or compromise functionality of the website.
  • If you use assistive technology (such as a Braille reader, a screen reader, or TTY) and the format of any material on this website interferes with your ability to access information, please contact the Office of Science Webmaster. To enable us to respond in a manner most helpful to you, please indicate the nature of your accessibility problem, the preferred format in which to receive the material, the web address of the requested material, and your contact information. Users who need accessibility assistance can also contact us by phone through the Federal Information Relay Service at (800) 877-8339 for TTY/voice communication.

Mobile View System Requirements

Visitors using the following mobile Operating System (OS) platforms and devices accessing http://science.energy.gov/ will be delivered an experience that has been optimized for their device:

  • Android OS: 2.2, 4.0
  • BlackBerry RIM OS: 5.0, 6.0, 7.0
  • iPhone iOS: 4.3, 5.0

While the optimized Mobile View may render on other mobile devices and platforms, the actual experience may vary, and in some cases the Standard (Desktop) View may be delivered.


Copyright

Materials on the Office of Science website are in the public domain. Office of Science requests that it be acknowledged as the source in any subsequent use of its information. Some materials on this site have been contributed by private individuals, companies, or organizations and include a copyright notice. It is the user's responsibility to contact copyright owners and obtain the written permission required under U.S. copyright law before using these materials.

Links may be made to the Office of Science website from personal and organization web pages. Office of Science requests that you link to its site rather than downloading portions of the site to another web server so viewers will see the most up-to-date information.

Office of Science materials may not be used to state or imply the endorsement of Office of Science or any Office of Science employee of a commercial product, service, or activity or be used in any other manner that might mislead the public.


Disclaimer

This system is made available by an agency of the United States Government and complies with the web disclaimer policies of the U.S. Department of Energy. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of originators expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.

We reserve the right to make all decisions in regard to what material is added to the Office of Science website, including the right to reject submissions.


Linking

This website contains hyperlinks to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. External links are identified in the link text or an accompanying description. These links add value to the site by providing visitors with additional information about topics and eliminating duplicate content.

The Office of Science does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of information on non-federal government websites. Links to particular items in hypertext are not intended as endorsements of any views expressed, products or services offered on outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring those sites. Many program sites have lists of links within their sites. Each program has its own criteria that are used when adding links to the site. Requests to add links or inquiries about linking criteria should be directed to the program sites.

External websites are welcome to link to the Office of Science website, as long as they do not imply that the Office of Science is endorsing or supporting their website. Do not use the Office of Science or DOE logo without permission.


Photographs

Most photographs on the Office of Science are in the public domain and may be used. Please include any credits that appear alongside the photograph; where no credits are listed, please credit the DOE's Office of Science.


Privacy

Information Collected

Two types of information are automatically collected by the Office of Science as you visit www.science.energy.gov. The information collected is used to track server load, identify operational problems, and to compile summary statistics to help us make the site more valuable to its users. The information that is automatically collected by http://science.energy.gov/ does not contain personally identifiable information. The two types of information automatically collected are discussed in detail below.

Web Traffic

For each page that is visited on http://science.energy.gov/, the following technical information is automatically captured in what is called a web server log file:

  • Date and time of access
  • URL address of the webpage visited
  • Internet domain and IP address from which our website was accessed
  • Type of browser and operating system used to access our site (if provided by the browser)
  • URL address of the referring page (if provided by the browser)
  • Completion or success status of the request for a web page or other on-line item
  • File size of the webpage visited

This information does not contain personally identifiable information nor do we use this information to remember a user’s online interactions with our site.

Web Measurement and Tracking

This site employs the use of two separate types of cookies, session and persistent, to collect non-personal information related to how users traverse the website. A cookie is a small file that a website transfers to your computer to allow the retrieval of specific information about your session while you are connected to a website.

  • Session cookies

last only as long as your browser is open; once the browser is closed the cookie disappears.

  • Persistent cookies

will remain on your hard drive until it reaches its expiration date or is deleted by you. This type of cookie is stored on your computer so the website that placed it there can recognize and remember when you return visit and keep track of which pages on their website you visit.

The federal government has guidelines on the use of persistent cookies (pdf) related to web measurement and tracking. The goals of the guidelines are to enable the useful functioning of federal websites while protecting individual privacy.

This site does not automatically collect or store personal information in identifiable form about users. Certain non-personally identifiable information is collected and stored automatically via session cookies, including:

  • the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the domain from which you access the Internet (i.e., 123.456.789.012) whether yours individually or provided as a proxy by your Internet Service Provider (ISP);
  • the domain from which you access the Internet;
  • the date and time you accessed the site;
  • the search queries, bibliographic citations viewed, and reports viewed; and
  • the Internet address of the Website from which you linked directly to our site.

This information is not shared with anyone beyond the support staff of this site, except when required by Law Enforcement investigation.

This site may also use session cookies to provide salient session-related information and to enable product-specific functions not related to web measurement and tracking. In no case will cookies be used to capture information that might compromise or threaten personal privacy.

Visitors to this site who have JavaScript enabled are by default anonymously tracked with persistent cookies using a web measurement technology, which collects the following types of information from users:

  • Type of user agent (web browser) used, software manufacture, and version number.
  • Type of operating system
  • Screen colors (color processing ability of the users screen)
  • JavaScript support
  • Flash version
  • Screen resolution
  • Network location and IP address
    • Can include country, city, state, region, county, or any other geographic data.
    • Hostname
    • Bandwidth (internet connection speed)
  • Time of visit
  • Pages visited
  • Time spent on each page of the website
  • Referring site statistics
    • The website (URL) the user came through in order to arrive at this website (for example: clicking on a hyperlink from http://science.energy.gov/ that took the user to this website)
    • Search engine query used (example: typing in a phrase into a search engine like Google, and clicking on a link from that search engine)

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) classifies the use of this type of technology as Tier 2 usage, since we are utilizing a multi-session web measurement technology that does not collect any personally identifiable information (PII).

No personally identifiable information is collected, so the anonymity of the end user is protected. The measurement data that is collected is retained for as long as is needed for proper analysis and optimization of the website and is accessible only to employees whose job function requires it.

Users who do not wish to participate in these web measurement and tracking activities may visit this page for instructions of how to opt-out. Please note that opting-out in no way affects your access to content within the site.

Users may choose to provide personal information containing comments or questions or to enable use of specialized site features. This information is only used to provide service to the user or to respond to a user inquiry.


Search

The Office of Science website includes a search box on every page. The search function permits the searching of all Office of Science content, displays search results in order of relevancy to search criteria, and provides quick response times. Advanced search options and search help are also offered.


Security

This website is part of a Federal computer system used to accomplish Federal functions. The Department of Energy monitors this website for security purposes to ensure it remains available to all users and to protect information in the system. By accessing this website, you are expressly consenting to these monitoring activities. Unauthorized attempts to defeat or circumvent security features, to use the system for other than intended purposes, to deny service to authorized users, to access, obtain, alter, damage, or destroy information, or otherwise interfere with the system or its operation are prohibited. Evidence of such acts may be disclosed to law enforcement authorities and result in criminal prosecution under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 (Pub. L. 990474) and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act of 1996 (Pub. L. 104-294), (18 U.S.C. 1030), or other applicable criminal laws.


Communicating with the Office of Science

Each program site within the Office of Science lists contact information for that program. The Office of Science Contact Us page provides further contact information.

FOIA

The Department of Energy is required under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to disclose records requested in writing by any person, unless the records or parts of the records are protected by any of nine exemptions in the law. The Department of Justice offers the full text of the Freedom of Information Act. To request information under FOIA, please see the Department of Energy's FOIA Program site.

No FEAR Act

For summary statistical data about equal employment opportunity complaints filed with the agency and written notification of "whistleblower" rights and protections as required by the No Fear Act of 2002, visit the Department of Energy's Equal Opportunity Data Posted Pursuant to the No FEAR Act.