WordPress for research labs: setup, publication plugins, costs and upkeep

WordPress is the default answer for many university IT departments, and with good reason: it powers a large share of the web, it's free and open source, and there's a theme or plugin for almost anything. Plenty of excellent lab websites run on it. Before you choose it, though, it's worth knowing what running a lab site on WordPress involves.

Two kinds of WordPress

• Your university's WordPress. Many institutions run a WordPress platform for departments and labs. It's free to you, hosted and secured by IT, usually with an approved theme. Simple — but often locked down: limited themes and plugins, and a site tied to your institution.
• Your own WordPress. You pick hosting (from a few dollars a month to much more), install WordPress, and choose any theme and plugin. Full control, full responsibility.

Setting up a lab site

1. Hosting and domain — a managed WordPress host saves you server work.
2. A theme — look for an academic or portfolio theme with clean typography; check it is maintained.
3. Pages — Home, Research, People, Publications, News, Join us, Contact. Our guide on what to include on a lab website covers each.
4. People — usually a custom post type or a page builder layout, so each member has a profile.
5. Publications — a plugin (see below).
6. Forms — a forms plugin for contact and applications.

Publications on WordPress

There's no built-in publication list. Common approaches are plugins that render a BibTeX file or manage a publication database, or embedding a list from an external service. All work, but someone must keep the BibTeX or database current, and plugin quality and maintenance vary — check when each was last updated. Our guide to updating your publication list automatically explains the open sources (ORCID, OpenAlex, Crossref, PubMed) worth using.

The real cost: upkeep

WordPress itself is free; keeping it healthy isn't.

• Updates. Core, theme and every plugin need regular updates for security. Skip them and the site becomes a target; apply them and occasionally something breaks.
• Security. Popular platforms attract automated attacks; you'll want backups, a security plugin and strong passwords for everyone who edits.
• The person problem. Like any custom setup, it tends to depend on one student or postdoc who knows how it works.

For a lab with a staff member or department web team who looks after WordPress, it's a solid choice. For a lab where the PI or students would be doing it in spare time, the maintenance is the deciding factor.

Alternatives

• Google Sites — simpler and free, but limited.
• Hugo Academic — free hosting, but edits need Git.
• A builder made for labs — Labsite has the lab's pages built in, publications that update themselves, team editing with permissions, an application inbox, and nothing to update or secure. See the best website builders for research labs for the full comparison.

Already on WordPress? Labsite can import your existing site — paste the address and your content is rebuilt in minutes.