Protocols and methods are at the heart of lab research and experimentation. Central for reproducibility, they provide scientists with the critical information they need to set up experiments in their own labs.

Springer Nature has a long and rich history in publishing protocols and methods to serve science experimentation and advance discovery.

Launched in the early 1980s, the landmark book series Methods in Molecular Biology  pioneered the precise protocol format that is still in use today. The series was later expanded into SpringerProtocols to focus on well-established as well as niche subject areas such as Epitranscriptomics, Cell-free DNA as Diagnostic Markers.

In the early 2000s, Nature Methods and Nature Protocols journals were then launched to champion cutting edge protocols and methods development.

The advanced solution Springer Nature Experiments was created in 2017 to support researchers’ workflow and help them find, evaluate, and implement protocols and methods from the extensive Springer Nature portfolio.

Drawing on our comprehensive protocols and methods resources and building on the success of our Nature Research communities (e.g., Chemistry, Microbiology), we aim to create a dedicated forum in this very important research space. With your help, we hope this community can better enable and enhance exchanges across multiple subject areas with protocols and methods as a focus.

The community is open to anyone, and all contributors can blog, post videos and images, and comment. We welcome new contributors, and if you would like to be a contributor email us at communities@nature.com. We hope that our Journal Club and Behind the Paper posts help readers and potential authors keep up with the protocols and methods we are publishing (and the “story” behind them!). Meanwhile, the Springer Nature Experiments posts will focus on the latest technology applications in protocols and methods research (AI, big data, machine learning, data visualization, etc.).

Most importantly, this is a space where our protocols and methods editors as well as our Experiments product managers get to interact with authors, readers and users in an informal and immediate way - we want to hear from you about how we're doing, and how we can do better. So please share your thoughts by posting in the relevant channels, let us know about your conference travels in On the Road, and comment on the posts from our editors and each other.

On behalf of the Springer Nature Protocols and Methods Team, I welcome you all and we look forward to hearing and learning from you.