Open Science Framework

The Open Science Framework is infrastructure developed by the Center for Open Science for creating and linking inspectable research records. It supports registration of study plans, community-run preprint services and connections to related data, materials, code and publications. These records can connect several stages of an investigation rather than leaving only its final paper visible.^[ref]

For example, an investigator can register a planned analysis before collecting data, then link the resulting paper and analysis code to that plan. Comparing the records helps distinguish the prespecified analysis from subsequent exploratory analysis. Registration provides evidence of what was recorded at a particular time; it does not itself show that the study design is sound or that a result is correct. Research transparency and computational reproducibility answer different questions from the truth of a scientific claim.

In his account of the project's history, Brian Nosek describes a failed 2007 grant proposal, Jeff Spies's renewed development effort in 2011 and the opening of the service for public use in 2012. His August 2026 explanation of a change in direction also illustrates an infrastructure constraint: the long-term value of linked research records depends on which services an organization can sustainably maintain.^[ref]