The complete plan for taking a compound: how much, how often, by which route, for how long, and what happens at the end. A protocol is the whole shape of a programme rather than any single number inside it. Two protocols can share the same dose and still be entirely different programmes if the frequency or the duration differs.

Why it matters here

When a study result is quoted, the result belongs to the whole protocol and not to the dose alone. Lifting one number out of a protocol and dropping the rest is the most common way people end up doing something the evidence never tested.

Also called

• dosing protocol
• protocol
• protocal
• regimen
• regime
• dosing regimen
• dosing regime
• dose protocol
• dosing plan
• the plan
• proto

Protocol on a forum usually means one person's personal routine, not a published trial protocol. The same word is doing two very different jobs, and only one of them implies that anyone checked.

Compounds carrying this term

None on file yet. This term is in the controlled vocabulary but no compound record currently uses it — which is a statement about our coverage, not about the term.

See also

• Dose — Dosing and scheduling
• Frequency — Dosing and scheduling
• Cycle — Dosing and scheduling
• human_rct — Evidence Tier