Just Another Tool for Online Studies (JATOS): An Easy Solution for Setup and Management of Web Servers Supporting Online Studies

We present here Just Another Tool for Online Studies (JATOS): an open source, cross-platform web application with a graphical user interface (GUI) that greatly simplifies setting up and communicating with a web server to host online studies that are written in Java-Script. JATOS is easy to install in all three major platforms (Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux), and seamlessly pairs with a database for secure data storage. It can be installed on a server or locally, allowing researchers to try the application and feasibility of their studies within a browser environment, before engaging in setting up a server. All communication with the JATOS server takes place via a GUI (with no need to use a command line interface), making JATOS an especially accessible tool for researchers without a strong IT background. We describe JATOS' main features and implementation and provide a detailed tutorial along with example studies to help interested researchers to set up their online studies. JATOS can be found under the Internet address: www.jatos.org.