The authors describe two of the organizations involved in standards development in the US: the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the National Information Standards Organization (NISO). They discuss the mechanism for standards development, the life cycle of a standard, and the revision of American National Standard Z39.18-1974, Guidelines for Format and Production of Scientific and Technical Reports.

A reader preference survey of engineers and scientists at the NASA Langley Research Center and in three professional/technical societies was conducted to determine the opinions of report users and producers concerning the format (organization) of NASA technical reports and the usage of technical report components. The survey questionnaire contained fourteen questions covering twelve survey topics. This article reports the findings of two survey topics: the components initially reviewed or read to determine whether to read a report in its entirety and the order in which report components are read.