Kelsey Sawyer, MS 
Health Sciences Librarian for Biomedical Research Support 
Brown University Library 

This is an update of a review published in the 07/23 issue of Doody’s Collection Development Monthly. Cold Spring Harbor Protocols publishes research methods in molecular and cellular biology, including developmental biology, genetics, bioinformatics, protein science, computational biology, immunology, neuroscience, and imaging. CSH Protocols targets bench researchers in the life sciences. Since the initial review, CSH Protocols has continued to produce content reliably on a monthly schedule and has emphasized content in the form of collections. Its website is largely the same with regard to functionality and appearance, as described in the previous review.  

Content 

This journal remains an extensive and authoritative methods reference source for researchers, focused primarily on molecular and cellular biology. CSH Protocols articles are currently solicited by invitation only, and are curated thematically into collections that function as comprehensive texts surveying methodological topics.  

Individual journal issues are structured by topic introductions, which are review articles that provide a high level context for the subsequent protocols in the issue. Protocol articles are standardized to include required reagents — including detailed recipes for any solutions — and equipment, in addition to detailed numbered steps describing the experimental method. 

Since the previous review, clusters of new issues have covered mosquitoes, Drosophila neuroscience, and maize as model systems. 

Topical collections are curated by editors, and essentially function as professional textbooks, arranged by chapters to provide a comprehensive guide to the topic at hand. These collections can serve dual functions as monographs in advanced undergraduate or graduate courses or as reference sources for researchers. Notably, these collections include Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, 4^th Edition, Green and Sambrook (CSHL Press, 2012), which is a long-standing seminal reference in its field. 

Since the initial review, publshed protocols have been organized more visibly into collections. The most recent collections includes Advances in Phage Display and Drosophila Neurobiology. 

Features / Functionality

While CSH Protocols is a journal, its homepage continues to function as a repository, allowing researchers to search and browse by themed collection, or by subject taxonomy.  

Of note, search functionality includes full text searching in addition to the usual title/abstract searching. This feature is particularly important for searching methods, as researchers may be looking for a specific detail (such as a software program, piece of equipment, technique, or substance) that may not be well indexed in traditional bibliographic databases.  

Content is categorized and browseable by subject. While this serves researchers who want to quickly navigate to a topic, it continues to be less intuitive to navigate, as subcategories are not viewable at the top level.  

As in the previous review, CSHL laboratory manual content can be somewhat buried in the system. Instead of being directly browsable, some manual content can only be fully accessed by opening an individual chapter and clicking its internal subject link. For example, browsing Laboratory Organisms > Mosquitoes returns 134 results, but clicking the specific collection link (Mosquitoes: A Laboratory Manual) from within an article page reveals 146 results. This complete collection is hidden from regular browsing, an issue that seems to extend to other manual content on the site. While the articles are still searchable, researchers who rely on browsing to access relevant content may miss some material.  

Protocol recipes are indexed from protocol articles and arranged for discovery in alphabetical order, however, this feature is not apparent from the main navigation of the site. The A-Z directory is linked on a sidebar when users are browsing by subject. 

No major changes in the interface functionality are apparent since the initial review. 

Business Model: 

CSH Protocols is licensed for institutional use, accessible by IP range or EZproxy. Access includes all years of publication (2006 and onward). Tables of contents, abstracts, and full text searching is available to anyone free of charge with the option to purchase articles individually.  

CSHL Press continues to offer transformative agreement license options which include full access to the complete collection of CSHL Press subscription journals and an OA publishing option for corresponding authors of accepted papers¹. OA fee coverage does not apply to CSH Protocols, CSH Perspectives in Biology, or CSH Perspectives in Medicine, as they accept commissioned articles only. In light of the rapidly changing OA landscape, the transformative agreement offered by CSHL Press offers an accessible entry point for libraries in comparison to other publishers whose agreements may be more cost prohibitive.  

Breakthrough 

Providing access to CSH Protocols supports scientific rigor, reproducibility, and replicability in biological laboratory research. This resource continues to serve as a unique contribution from a highly regarded and influential scientific organization, and fills an important niche in life sciences collections serving molecular biology research programs.  

Cited References 

1. Transformative Agreements. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Accessed June 5, 2026. https://www.cshl.edu/cold-spring-harbor-laboratory-press/journals/transformative-agreements/