Publishing model

Articles published in Nature Protocols can only be published using the subscription publication route; we do not offer an immediate gold open access (OA) publication option. We do not charge a fee for publication. 

Nature Protocols only publishes non-primary articles  (such as Protocol, Review and Perspective articles). In contrast to primary articles (that is, research articles), non-primary articles do not include original (previously unpublished) research findings and may only contain minimal re-analyses of published data. The vast majority of funders with OA mandates only require primary research that they have funded to be published OA, meaning that most authors submitting to Nature Protocols do not need to take any actions to make their articles openly accessible. The UKRI, for example, has confirmed that narrative reviews are out of the scope of their policy.  

In addition, six months after the date of online publication, authors of articles published in Nature Protocols can self-archive the accepted manuscript on their own personal website and/or in their funder or institutional repositories. 

This policy approach for non-primary content allows authors to comply with the majority of funders’ OA policies and mandates worldwide, but authors should check their individual funding mandates before proceeding. You can also check our Open Research website along with FAQs on complying with funder OA article policies. 

By agreeing to write for Nature Protocols, authors agree to accept our standard licensing terms including our self-archiving policies. Those standard licensing terms supersede any other terms that the author or any third party may assert apply to any version of the manuscript.