The Open Science Framework (OSF) is a free, open-source project management and collaboration tool developed and maintained by the non-profit Center for Open Science (COS) . Its mission is to increase the openness, integrity, and reproducibility of scientific research by supporting researchers throughout the entire research lifecycle, from planning and execution to reporting, archiving, and discovery .
Product Overview and Key Benefits OSF provides a centralized, structured repository for all research materials, including data, code, protocols, and manuscripts, which helps to reduce fragmentation and streamline access for research teams . It is designed to be discipline-agnostic, with a modular structure that supports diverse research methodologies . The platform is a dependable repository, with a preservation fund aimed at ensuring read access to hosted data for 50+ years .
Main Features and Capabilities
- Project Management & Collaboration: Centralizes projects into a single workspace, allowing for the organization of files, folders, and sub-projects (components). It supports granular permission settings for collaborators .
- Version Control: Automatically tracks changes to files and the project wiki, allowing users to track the evolution of their study and revert to earlier versions .
- Preregistration & Registration: The Registration feature creates a permanent, time-stamped, read-only snapshot of a project, often used for preregistering hypotheses and analysis plans to increase transparency and rigor .
- Data Archiving & Sharing: Provides secure cloud storage (OSF Storage) and the ability to connect to external storage add-ons. Every project and file can receive a unique, persistent URL (DOI or ARK for public projects) for citing and sharing .
- Open API: Hosts an Open Application Programming Interface (API) that allows developers to automate workflows, integrate with other tools, and programmatically manage projects and data .
- Project Analytics: Stores project usage information to measure impact, including view and download counts .
Target Users and Use Cases OSF is primarily targeted at researchers, research teams, and students across all disciplines. It is also used by research institutions, funders, and publishers to align with open science policies and manage institutional research output .
- Use Cases: Research Project Management, Long-term Data Archiving and Sharing, Preregistration of Studies, Promoting Research Reproducibility and Transparency, and Inter-Institutional Research Collaboration .
