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Open data, code, protocols and methods

Open protocols and methods

Open protocols and methods are essential for ensuring research can be fully understood, reproduced and built upon.

Sharing detailed, step‑by‑step descriptions of how studies are designed, conducted and analysed allows others to validate results, replicate experiments and apply approaches in new contexts. By making methods openly available—from laboratory protocols to computational procedures—researchers strengthen transparency, improve research quality and accelerate scientific progress. This page introduces the value of open protocols and methods and offers guidance on how to share them effectively as part of your research workflow.

How can we support you?

Supporting open protocols and methods

Open science is about innovation. We are committed to building on our open science policies with practical tools that help researchers share data, code, protocols and methods when they publish with us.

Here we outline some of the solutions that have been piloted on selected journals and are now being progressively integrated more widely across ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø portfolios.

protocols.io platform

  • Researchers can share detailed, step‑by‑step methods in a structured, versioned format, linked directly to publications
  1. Enables clearer documentation of experimental and analytical workflows 
  2. Supports replication and reuse 
  3. Methods are permanently available and citeable, while still being updateable through versioning
  4. Facilitates adaptation of protocols to expedite science via forking
  5. Provides credit for methodological contributions 

Impact

  • High adoption in early pilots, with around one third of authors opting to share protocols when offered 
  • Improved availability of complete, reusable methods

protocols.io

 is a ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø owned open research platform designed to help scientists create, share and discover detailed, step‑by‑step protocols. It enables researchers to document methods in a structured, interactive format, making it easier for others to replicate experiments, adapt approaches and build on existing work. Protocols can be versioned, updated and collaboratively improved over time, supporting transparency and continuous refinement. By assigning persistent identifiers and allowing protocols to be linked directly to publications, protocols.io also ensures authors receive credit for their methods while helping to make research more reproducible, accessible and reusable.

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