v2026.1CASRAI Dictionary 1,610 entries across 24 domains · CC-BY 4.01,610 entries · CC-BY 4.0

Dictionary termTrack AStablev2026.2

Methods paper

A peer-reviewed publication whose primary subject is a research methodology — a new analytic technique, experimental procedure, instrumentation approach, or computational method — described in sufficient detail for independent reuse, sometimes with worked examples.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 21 May 2026

Ask about Methods paper

Answers are drawn from this dictionary entry and the rest of the CASRAI corpus, with a link to every source.

Answers are AI-generated from CASRAI’s own published pages and can be wrong, so check the linked sources before relying on one; your question is logged without personal data — never sold, never used to train a third-party model — to show us what CASRAI is missing, so please do not type personal or confidential details. How we use this

Examples

Worked examples

Is an instance
A Nature Methods paper introducing a new single-cell sequencing protocol with benchmarking against existing techniques

Counter-examples

Looks similar, but isn't

Not an instance
A research article that applies an existing method is not a methods paper (it is original research using that method)

Editorial commentary

Methods papers differ from protocol papers in focusing on methodological innovation or refinement (the method itself is the contribution) rather than on documenting a specific planned study. Nature Methods, Methods in Ecology and Evolution, and similar venues are dedicated outlets.

References

Nature Methods editorial scope
BMJ Methods reporting guidance

Also known as

Methodology paper · Technique paper

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

xml

<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="Methods paper"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/methods-paper" />

Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

json

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/methods-paper",
  "name": "Methods paper",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/methods-paper",
  "description": "A peer-reviewed publication whose primary subject is a research methodology — a new analytic technique, experimental procedure, instrumentation approach, or computational method — described in sufficient detail for independent reuse, sometimes with worked examples.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/research-outputs#set",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/methods-paper",
  "sameAs": [
    "Methodology paper",
    "Technique paper"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "publisher": {
    "@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
  },
  "dateModified": "2026-05-21T02:04:57",
  "inLanguage": "en"
}