About this site
Welcome to Nature Protocols. Here you will find general information about Nature Protocols, including descriptions of the:
Aims and scope
Nature Protocols is an interactive online resource for laboratory protocols for bench researchers. Protocols are presented in a 'recipe' style providing step-by-step descriptions of procedures that users can take to the lab bench and immediately apply in their own research. Protocols on the site are fully searchable and organized into logical categories to be easily accessible to researchers.
Our Protocols come from a variety of sources. The core content, the Nature Protocols, are high quality, peer-reviewed procedures commissioned by the Nature Protocols editorial team. These protocols must have proven themselves in the laboratory, having been used to acquire data reported in published research papers.
The site also contains protocols derived from supplementary information from Nature Research Journals, supplier protocols and content posted directly on the site by the scientific community using social software. This content is within the Protocols Network.
To enable timely publication, the Protocols Network protocols are not further styled, peer reviewed or copy edited, but posted live soon after submission. Brief details of each protocol type and how to submit can be found at for authors.
Nature Protocols aims to publish the protocols being used to answer outstanding biological and biomedical science research questions, including methods grounded in physics and chemistry that have a practical application to the study of biological problems. Further details of our scope can be found here.
Content and Functionality of the site
Both our Nature Protocols and Protocols Network content can be accessed by searching or browsing the site. Each month the Editors highlight selected content. The latest Nature Protocols content uploaded to the site can be browsed here, or can be received in a monthly e-mail alert, by signing up for our e-toc. Details of how to submit a protocol can be found at for authors.
The site also contains a central page listing common reagents and equipment of use to users of many of the protocols we publish.
We invite researchers to comment on the protocols by clicking on the 'comment on this protocol' link on the protocol of interest. All authors of protocols or comments must agree to adhere to our terms and conditions, below.
Access to the site
The commissioned Nature Protocols are available via a site license or a personal print subscription. Alternatively, access to individual articles can be purchased on an article-by-article basis. Content in the Protocols Network is freely available. Visit 'sample issue' to see freely available samples of our Nature Protocols content.
Our terms and conditions
All authors of protocols and comments must adhere to our terms and conditions. Comments should be related to the protocol under discussion and any criticism must be constructive. Language must be appropriate for constructive scientific dialogue. Initially we will be monitoring all protocols and comments submitted, hence there will be a short lag between submission and uploading to the site.
How to cite our content
The correct abbreviation for Nature Protocols content is Nat. Protoc.. The Nature Protocols content has been assigned volume and page numbers, to facilitate citation. In addition, each protocol has a unique DOI. Protocols Network content has also been assigned a DOI; however, given that this content has not been peer-reviewed we recommend it not be viewed as a citable publication in the conventional sense. Where the protocol has been used in a primary research article we recommend that this article be cited in preference.
ISSN and eISSN
The electronic international standard serial number (EISSN) for Nature Protocols is 1750-2799. The international standard serial number (ISSN) is 1754-2189.
Indexing Nature Protocols
The following organizations are indexing the peer-reviewed Nature Protocols content:
MEDLINE
PUBMED
CROSSREF
INFOTRIEVE
KESLI
CAS
ISI
SCIENCE CITATION INDEX EXPANDED
BIOCHEMISTRY & BIOPHYSICS CITATION INDEX
CURRENT CONTENTS / LIFE SCIENCES
EBSCO
CALIS-MIRROR
SWETSNET
BRITISH_LIB
OCLC
Our relationship
with Nature Methods and other Nature publicationsNature Protocols is editorially independent, and its editors make their own decisions, independent of the other Nature journals. Our sister title, Nature Methods, is a monthly research journal predominantly publishing primary research articles focused on novel methods and improvements to tried-and-tested techniques. In addition Nature Methods publishes some protocols. A general explanation of the relationships between Nature titles can be found here.
Publishing Policy
The Nature journals, including Nature Protocols, share a number of common policies including the following:
- Use of experimental animals and human subjects
- Competing Financial Interests
- Availability of materials and data
- Guide for digital images
- Gene nomenclature
- Security concerns
- Refutations and complaints
- Corrections
Further details of the standard policies can be found here. As these policies were developed for journals publishing primary research they have been adapted for Nature Protocols; specific details of how these relate to authors of Nature Protocols can be found in the Guide to Authors.
