What is protocols.io and what is it used for?

protocols.io is a secure platform for developing, sharing, and discovering reproducible research methods, protocols, and workflows. It is used by individual researchers, biotech and pharma teams, universities, nonprofits, and government labs to keep methods organized and versioned, collaborate across teams, and find trusted protocols from the global scientific community. It is a platform for methods and workflows, not a general-purpose data repository.

Core uses

Organize and version methods

protocols.io provides a central place to keep methods up to date and versionable, with edit history and concurrent editing. This matters when a method evolves over time: you can publish a new version as techniques or software change while preserving earlier versions so past experiments remain traceable.

Collaborate across teams and locations

Teams can work in shared, private workspaces. The platform supports commenting on specific steps, which helps collaborators flag steps that need clarification or updating. For industry users, the site describes private and secure collaboration features including HIPAA compliance, audit trail, approval/signature (21 CFR Part 11), two-factor authentication, encryption, and VPC.

Discover and share trusted protocols

Users can search a large collection of reproducible methods used by researchers worldwide. Protocols can include video, reagents, detailed parameters, and other supporting detail, and can be made interactive and runnable so others can follow them precisely.

Support teaching and recordkeeping

Institutional plans are positioned around productivity, teaching, collaboration, and recordkeeping across research disciplines.

Who it serves

What it is not

protocols.io is built around methods and workflows. It is not a general data repository, so it should not be treated as a place to store or publish raw datasets. Its value is in capturing how research is done, keeping that record current, and making it reproducible.

Practical example

A lab developing a sequencing protocol can draft it in the editor, invite collaborators to comment on individual steps, and publish a new version when the workflow changes. When writing up results later, the team can cite the exact version used in the experiment, which supports reproducibility. A global collaborator network can likewise track which steps need clarification by commenting directly on the protocol.

Deciding whether it fits

Consider protocols.io if your main need is to structure, version, and share methods across a team or community, or to find established protocols to adapt. If your need is primarily storing large datasets or general project files, a data repository or file-sharing service is the better fit. Pricing and plan details are listed on the site's Plans and Billing pages; check those pages for current terms before choosing a plan.