Changes coming to the Open Science Framework (OSF)
For those less familiar with it, the Open Science Framework (OSF) is a free, open-source platform supporting open research, including preregistration, preprints, collaboration and sharing research materials. The Center for Open Science has announced some significant changes – but importantly, OSF is not closing, and preregistrations/registrations and preprints will continue as normal. The main change is to OSF Projects, which is currently used as a general workspace for collaboration, file management and storage.
From 16 November 2026, new OSF Projects can no longer be created, and from 19 February 2027, existing Projects will become read-only. The change reflects the increasing cost of maintaining general-purpose storage and collaboration infrastructure, alongside the growth of specialist repositories and services. Researchers will still be able to create preregistrations/registrations (including uploading files associated with them), share preprints and link research outputs; the main impact is for those using OSF Projects to actively manage or store research data, materials and code, who will need to consider alternative storage/repository options.
The tables at the bottom of the COS guidance give a helpful breakdown of exactly what is changing, what is staying the same, and what action users may need to take. If you currently use OSF Projects – particularly active or private ones – it is worth taking a look.
By Teresa Simoes Steyn