Nature Protocols is a new online web resource for laboratory protocols. The site contains high quality, peer-reviewed Nature Protocols commissioned by the Nature Protocols Editorial team and content posted onto the Protocols Network site by the community. The commissioned protocols will be clearly identified and editorially enhanced.

Content accepted for publication in Nature Protocols:

1. Nature Protocols
2. Community protocols, on the Protocols Network, comprising:
• Protocols submitted by authors of research papers in Nature journals
• Protocols submitted by the research community
• Supplier Protocols and Application notes

Nature Protocols

These protocols are the core content for Nature Protocols. Commissioned by the Nature Protocols Editors, these are peer reviewed, fully edited and styled prior to publication. Through interaction between authors and the Editorial team, these protocols are developed to contain a summary, followed by separate sections comprising a brief introduction, materials, procedure, critical steps, troubleshooting, comments and references. Figures and diagrams are included, where appropriate. Our ‘Guide to authors’ contains further information about the format we require for these protocol submissions. If you would like to submit a protocol for consideration by the Editors please submit a presubmission enquiry using our Manuscript Tracking System. If you have any problems using this system please contact us.

Protocols submitted by authors of research papers in Nature journals

These are the protocols used by recent Nature Journal authors to perform the research discussed in their papers. To enable timely publication, these protocols are posted directly on the Protocols Network by the author [hence they have not been further styled, peer reviewed or copy edited]. We encourage authors to adopt the same structure and styling used in Nature Protocols to help consistency and clarity. Information on how to submit these protocols is supplied when manuscripts are accepted in principle by the respective journals, and the submission form can be found here. If you have a protocol that is related to a previously published primary research paper and would like further information about how to submit, please contact us and include full citation details of the appropriate original Nature Journal paper.

Protocols submitted by the research community

Any researcher who has developed a new protocol is invited to upload it to the Protocols Network as a service to the community via our submission system. We strongly recommend that users apply the format described for Nature Protocols, above, to optimize usability by other researchers and create consistency in the content style. Authors who think their protocol would make a useful addition to the Nature Protocols collection are welcome to contact the editorial team.

Supplier Protocols and Application Notes

Both application notes and company protocols can be submitted by product suppliers and will not be peer-reviewed or copy edited. Application Notes describe the technical performance of interesting new products or applications of laboratory technologies and are written in a narrative format, whereas company protocols describe the use of products or equipment for a specific application and are written in a numbered recipe style. We invite companies wishing to submit application notes to go to our Application Notes site and use our on-line submission system. Companies wishing to submit protocols should use our new submission system, where protocols can be uploaded as text or pdfs.