protocols.io

An online platform for the creation, management, and sharing of research protocols or methods

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On the 31st December 2024 our subscription to protocols.io will end and we have taken the difficult decision not to renew it. The reason for this is that in 2023 the company that developed protocols.io sold it to the academic publisher Springer Nature and they have decided to impose an increase in subscription cost of over 700% for 2025. Until now the subscription costs have been met from library budgets, if we continued the subscription we would need to start recouping costs directly from users and these would be somewhere in the region of £250-300 per person for 2025.

We have carefully evaluated how protocols.io is being used by staff and students and we do not feel that we can justify spending so much more for membership of this platform or that the majority of current users would be willing or able to meet the costs from their current grants.We realise that this will be disappointing and inconvenient for many of you and the Research Data Service team is here to help. If you have any questions about how this change will impact you please read the FAQ and if that does not answer all of your questions, or you would like support moving to another platform please email us using data-support@ed.ac.uk. 

FAQ

protocols.io was acquired by Springer Nature in 2023, they quickly began imposing significant increases in subscription costs on member institutions. For our 2025 subscription they are demanding an increase of more than >700% on the 2024 cost. We do not feel that this is a good use of our limited budgets in the current economic climate and accepting such a monumental increase could weaken our bargaining position in the future.


The subscription will end on the 31st December 2024.


All user accounts will revert to the free “Open Research” account that provides the following:

  1. Up to 2 private protocols
  2. Unlimited public protocols
  3. Unlimited public workspaces
  4. Unlimited public versions and forks
  5. Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for each protocol & version
  6. Integration with ORCID & CROSSREF for maximum discoverability
  7. Long term preservation (CLOCKSS) and mirroring (Internet Archive, GitHub)
  8. Basic support
  9. Funder and publisher compliance for increased reproducibility

There will be no changes to these and you can continue to develop and share them as public protocols.


You will still have access to these but will no longer be able to create any new private protocols or files, unless you take out an individual subscription to protocols.io. You can download these as PDFs or JSON files for transfer to another platform if you wish. We would recommend downloading a copy of all private files and protocols prior to the subscription ending.


Yes, and we support the continued use of protocols.io for the publication of methodologies. Publishing a detailed methodology for your research, with a DOI, enables it to be referenced in publications, shared, and cited. This is a key element of making research more open and reproducible, and increasing the visibility of your work. 


There is nothing currently available that exactly replicates the functionality of protocols.io, however, the University does support a number of other Open Research tools which may provide suitable alternatives. To find out more about these visit our Open Research Tools (https://library.ed.ac.uk/research-support/research-data-service/during/open-research-tools) page. The Research Data Service is here to help you identify the best alternative tools for your research needs, contact us at data-support@ed.ac.uk.


  • One-click PDF export of every public and private protocol is available on an individual protocol level. Bulk export for all of your private protocol PDFs is available from the protocols.io File Manager. This export also includes integration with Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, OSF, and LabArchives facilitating personal storage of researchers' private protocols in these platforms.
  • It is also possible to export protocols as JSON files, this requires integration with the protocols.io API. Guidance on this can be found in the Developers Resources (https://www.protocols.io/developers).

If we are able to negotiate a more reasonable price and there is sufficient interest from researchers then we would consider subscribing again in the future.


 

Users of protocols.io can:

  • Create new public workspaces protocols within the system;
  • Upload existing methods and digitise them;
  • Publish protocol(s) making them freely available for others to use and cite;

Benefits of using protocols.io

  • All protocols are dynamic and interactive, helping with collaboration within a group or among co-authors outside of the university.
  • Those with access to a protocol can then update, annotate, or fork it so that it can be continually improved and developed.
  • There is interoperability with GitHub and RSpace, and long-term preservation of protocols through CLOCKSS.

For more information on the functionality and benefits of using the protocols.io under the Open Research plan visit the features page https://www.protocols.io/features 

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