Description of Service

The SciLifeLab protocols.io premium licence provides life science researchers in Sweden with enhanced tools for creating, sharing, and publishing research methods and protocols. Its purpose is to support reproducibility, strengthen alignment with open science and FAIR principles, and encourage collaboration across the research community. The platform is not intended for long-term file storage, therefore, private protocols are expected to be made public over time.

In protocols.io you can:

• Add visuals (photos, videos, diagrams) and interactive components (timer, temperature, reagent amount) to clarify steps.

• Add dynamic tables for real-time calculations (e.g., PCR master mix preparation).

• Follow step-by-step methods and scale them for different sample sizes.

• Record procedure adjustments and notes directly in the protocol.

• Capture and store output files during protocol runs.

• Collaborate and refine methods before and after publication.

• Publish your protocols publicly, with private groups, or with individuals.

• Fork (clone), modify, and republish public protocols with improvements.

Why use SciLifeLab protocols.io:

• Possibility to invite group members to join a premium workspace, giving them access to all premium features for its content.

• Unlimited private protocols and file uploads.

• Administrated and unlimited workspaces.

• Unlimited institutional workspace members.

• Invite up to 10 external collaborators.

• Creation of records for experimental runs.

• Full version history with rollback functionality.

• Free protocol entry service.

• Signing flow for the review and approval of protocols before publication

Term of Use:

Eligibility: Premium licences are freely available to SciLifeLab-affiliated research groups and infrastructures. They are typically granted to SciLifeLab Group leaders, 1-2 proxy users appointed by group leaders, or infrastructure staff.

User responsibilities: Users must actively utilise the platform, follow ethical and legal data handling standards, and comply with both SciLifeLab and protocols.io policies. Uploading illegal material, misrepresenting authorship, or violating laws or research ethics is strictly prohibited.

Service oversight: SciLifeLab reviews premium licence usage annually. Users that do not meet the minimum usage criteria (more than 0 Mb of storage used, personal or public protocols created, at least one protocol published within a two-year period) may be downgraded to the free tier, but can request reactivation.

Support: SciLifeLab offers training, onboarding, guidance for workspace setup, and ongoing documentation on best practices.

Data protection: protocols.io securely manages user data, and deletes or anonymises it upon account deletion. SciLifeLab promotes FAIR and open data practices while ensuring sensitive data is handled responsibly.

Publishing persistence: Note that once published, protocols cannot be modified. However, the platform supports versioning and forking, allowing users to create updated or derivate versions linked to the original protocol.