Online publishing platforms and mobile devices have accelerated the migration of scientists from printed journals toward digital formats. As this trend continues, scientific papers will transform into fully integrated and interactive digital entities. Nature Chemical Biology is taking a step toward this future by publishing 'Online Methods' for all of our original research content.

Until now, the methodological detail in Nature Chemical Biology papers has been divided between two sections: Methods that were included in the print and online versions of papers and Supplementary Methods that were published online only. This separation required additional work for authors and made it more difficult for readers to find relevant methodological information. Beginning with our January 2013 issue, Brief Communications and Articles will be published with an Online Methods section that contains the primary methods of the paper in one place.

The adoption of Online Methods, which has been used by other Nature journals in recent years, has several advantages. First, unlike Supplementary Methods, Online Methods will be copy edited by our in-house team, which facilitates a consistent presentation across our papers. Second, Online Methods save space, giving us more room to publish chemical biology research and commentary in each issue. Finally, the new format better integrates methods across the HTML and PDF versions of the paper. Readers who continue to enjoy the journal in print will be able to access the methods in one of these digital formats at the Nature Chemical Biology website.

The move to Online Methods will affect the formatting of Articles and Brief Communications and their associated Supplementary Information. Authors should continue to follow our established limits to references cited in the body of the paper, but each paper will be allowed additional citations that are associated exclusively with Online Methods. Authors who wish to present extensive descriptions of experimental procedures that may be less suited to Online Methods—complex protocols or detailed information on chemical compound synthesis and characterization—may organize these into a 'Supplementary Note'.

The transition to Online Methods should be seamless for our authors and readers. Authors who plan to submit new manuscripts should review our formatting guidelines in our Guide to Authors (http://www.nature.com/nchembio/authors/index.html). As always, our editors will work closely with authors to optimize the presentation of their revised manuscripts for timely publication. We hope that our updated approach to methods will enhance your experience of our published papers.