Protocol Preparation Guidelines for Authors

The condensed methodologies typically published in the Methods sections of original research articles or other types of publications (e.g., book chapters) can be hard to reproduce. Bio-protocol helps to fill this gap by providing a platform for clearly written, step-by-step, peer-reviewed, and validated protocols that contain sufficient detail to ensure their reproducibility. The goal of our published protocols is to provide enough information for a novice to perform the experiment successfully with appropriate advice or supervision. We welcome submissions of both newly developed protocols and classic methods lacking detailed descriptions elsewhere in the literature. Our peer review process emphasizes feasibility, not novelty. Most reviewer-requested changes involve text edits for clarity and detail, which most authors can easily address.

Bio-protocol accepts manuscripts describing experimental protocols (protocols predominantly carried out at the lab bench but that often include data analysis steps) as well as bioinformatics and computational biology protocols (protocols predominantly describing computational pipelines and frameworks but that can also include some experimental steps carried out at the lab bench). We provide guidelines and an author template for each of these protocol types. For any questions about protocol preparation or submission, including questions about which protocol template might be appropriate, contact our Managing Editor, Marisa Rosa (marisa.rosa@ed.bio-protocol.org).