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Springer Nature launches research solution for the life sciences

Springer Nature Experiments is a tool to help researchers discover the most relevant protocols and methods

Springer Nature has launched a new, free-to-use research solution, Springer Nature Experiments, to help researchers in the life sciences advance discovery by accessing the most relevant protocols and methods to support their research projects.   

Protocols are “recipes” used in laboratory research to support the design and implementation of reproducible experiments. The step-by-step instructions help researchers recreate an experiment by typically including information on the materials required, equipment and set-up. Methods are new scientific procedures for solving existing problems. Together, these two different types of content are the cornerstone for scientists to successfully conduct their research.  

Springer Nature publishes the largest available collection of protocols and methods for the life sciences with content from SpringerProtocols, Nature Methods, Nature Protocols and Protocol Exchange – the free repository for scientists to share their protocols with the scientific community. Springer Nature Experiments provides access to all of these through a single easy-to-use platform, designed to save researchers’ time.   

Mirko Walter, Head of the Database Research Group at Springer Nature said:  “We didn’t want to settle for just having the biggest resource in terms of volume. We wanted to develop a solution that really tackles some of the challenges that researchers face day-to-day, such as finding the right protocol for their project. With searches often providing many results, and the task of comparing lengthy protocols side-by-side being massively time-consuming, Springer Nature Experiments helps researchers address this and advance discovery by accelerating research projects.”  

The platform uses advanced knowledge models to categorise content based on techniques and organisms – the two most commonly used search categories identified in user research. With the help of cutting-edge artificial intelligence and text mining technologies, these terms are recognised and extracted from the content, enabling users to perform searches and narrow down their results quickly and easily.  

In addition, users can evaluate and compare protocols prior to accessing the full-text with the help of protocol landing pages. These summarize key information such as the keywords mentioned, article history and citations which  gives an indication of whether the protocol has been used successfully in other research projects.

https://experiments.springernature.com