For more than 20 years, several federal agencies have supported the efforts of various scientific working groups, often referred to as SWGs, for the advancement of forensic standards and techniques.

Today there are over 20 SWGs in existence representing forensic disciplines including DNA, Firearms, Latent Prints, et al.

The Scientific Working Group for Forensic Document Examination (SWGDOC) develops standards and guidelines for the field of forensic document examination.  SWGDOC is composed of private examiners and government examiners from local, state, and federal laboratories throughout the United States.  SWGDOC began in 1997 as TWGDOC (Technical Working Group for Questioned Documents), was renamed SWGDOC in 1999, and was reorganized in 2001.  From 2000 to 2012 SWGDOC published their standards through American Society for Testing and Materials International (now simply ASTM International).  In 2012 SWGDOC stopped publishing their standards through ASTM and began self-publishing their standards as is the practice for nearly every other SWG group.