Scratchpads are an online virtual environment supporting biodiversity research, allowing anyone to share their data and create their own research networks.

Sites can focus on specific taxonomic groups, or the biodiversity of a biogeographic region, or indeed any aspect of natural history. Key features of Scratchpads (see also Scratchpads feature list) include: tools to manage biological classifications, bibliography management, media (images, video and audio), rich taxon pages (with structured descriptions, specimen records, and distribution data). For more information, please see http://scratchpads.org.

Automated site registration is closed but you can still apply for a site by emailing scratchpads@nhm.ac.uk with your name, professional affiliations (if any), area of research interest and approximate size of your community. We will work with you to set up a site.