Method articles

Share methodological innovations

What is a method article? 

A method article is a medium length peer-reviewed, research-focused article type that aims to answer a specific question. It also describes an advancement or development of current methodological approaches and research procedures (akin to a research article), following the standard layout for research articles.

This includes new study methods, substantive modifications to existing methods, or innovative applications of existing methods to new models or scientific questions. These should include adequate and appropriate validation to be considered, and any datasets associated with the paper must publish all experimental controls and make full datasets available.   

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What are the benefits of publishing a method article?

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  • Maximize the potential of your research by increasing the transparency, accessibility and reproducibility of your research by sharing innovations and new ways of approaching research questions.

  • Gain credit for your methodological innovations with a citable publication.

  • You can upload your method steps to protocols.io to increase the findability of your research.

How do I write a method article?

Method articles are medium length (2500-4000 words) article types following the standard layout for research articles and should include:

  1. The abstract, introduction, method, results, and conclusions and/or discussion, within the main body of the article

  2. A data availability statement

  3. Author contributions

  4. Funding/grant information

  5. Any supplementary materials and appendices

Authors submitting methodology articles have the option to share their method steps on protocols.io. Please note, this is not required for submission but is encouraged. 

Method article template

Here is a downloadable method article template to help you write and prepare your method article for submission: F1000Research method note template

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Publishing your method article with F1000Research

F1000Research enables you to publish your method article rapidly and openly via an author-centric platform. You’ll benefit from:

              • Open access publication – for maximum visibility of your method article.

              • Fast publication times – your method article will be published online with a DOI following our pre-publication checks in as little as 14 days.

              • Open data – All submissions to F1000Research must comply with our open data policy and support FAIR principles.

              • Open peer review – Once published, your data note will undergo a robust open peer review process where reviewers are asked specific questions about the description, methodology and availability of the data.

              Please read the guide to publishing a method article with F1000Research and the method article submission template, which makes it quick and easy to write your method article for submission for F1000Research.

              Taylor & Francis journals

              The Taylor & Francis journal portfolio offers a growing range of options for publishing method articles. To maintain quality and provide validation of the methodology and supporting information, method articles will be peer reviewed in line with the relevant submission policy. 

              Below is our list of journals for publishing your method article. You can also submit a method article to Dove Medical Press journals.

              Further resources

              Article types

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