Lifecycle Open Science | Center for Open Science

Make the full path of research visible, connected, and verifiable.

Research is more than a publication — it is a connected process. It starts with questions and plans, develops through data, materials, code, and analysis, and continues through findings, reuse, correction, and new discovery.

But too often, that path is hard to follow. Plans, outputs, and outcomes may exist in different places — or may not be connected at all.

That is the idea behind lifecycle open science: doing and sharing research so that plans, outputs (data, code, materials), and outcomes are transparent, accessible, linked, and findable over time.

When that record is linked and findable, research becomes easier to understand, evaluate, reuse, and build on. That means less guesswork, stronger transparency, greater trustworthiness, and more value from the research people produce.

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THE CHALLENGE
Unnecessary friction slows research progress

The reward systems that shape research often place the greatest emphasis on papers and the findings they report. Researchers are rewarded more for novel, positive, tidy findings, and rewarded less for research plans, outputs, null results, corrections, and verification efforts that are important contributors to making research credible. As a consequence, those credibility-enhancing parts of research are harder to see, share, or assess.

That creates unnecessary friction. The result is a research record that can appear more certain and complete than it is. When the path from plan to evidence to finding is hard to see, it becomes harder to distinguish planned analyses from exploratory ones, understand changes or deviations, detect errors, verify claims, reproduce results, and build reliably on prior work.

The problems lifecycle open science helps address:

Publish-or-perish incentives

Not every contribution fits neatly into a paper. Plans, data, materials, code, null results, corrections, and verification efforts are valuable parts of the research process.

Publication bias and selective reporting

When only the most publishable results surface, the record can look cleaner than reality. Making planned research discoverable shows what was studied, not just what was published.

Questionable research practices

When design, analysis, reporting, and interpretation choices are hard to see, findings can appear more certain, tidy, or confirmatory than they are.

Lack of transparency and verification

A final claim is easier to evaluate when people can see the path behind it. Linked plans, outputs, and outcomes give research consumers what they need to scrutinize, verify, replicate, reuse, or build on prior work.

THE LIFECYCLE OPEN SCIENCE APPROACH
Start with the plan, then connect the record

Lifecycle open science is not a single practice, platform, or workflow. It is an approach to making the research record more connected, so people can understand what was planned, what was produced, what was found, and how those pieces relate over time.

For COS, prospective study planning is a starting point because it helps others understand the original question, intended methods, planned analyses, what changed, and how the final outcome relates to what was planned.

Preregistration is one way to make that planning more transparent and durable. A time-stamped study plan helps distinguish planned analyses from exploratory ones, reduce ambiguity about changes or deviations, reduce selective reporting, and keep planned research discoverable regardless of whether the results are positive, negative, null, inconclusive, or ultimately published. When outputs and outcomes link back to the preregistration, others have a clearer basis for interpreting, checking, reusing, and building on the work.

Different fields and methods may require different forms of planning, sharing, and reporting. But across those differences, the goal is the same: make the path from plan to evidence to finding easier to understand and evaluate.

BROADER IMPACT
A stronger foundation for research progress

Research shapes decisions that affect people’s lives — from policy and practice to education, health, technology, and public understanding. But research can only deliver that value when others can understand how evidence was produced, evaluate the claims being made, and build confidently on what came before.

Lifecycle open science strengthens that foundation by making the path from question to evidence to finding easier to follow. When plans, outputs, and outcomes are connected, research is better positioned to support trustworthy discoveries, stronger policy and practice, faster learning, and more effective solutions, treatments, and innovations.

Who benefits from a more connected research record:

Researchers

Show the full value of their work — not only the final paper, but the plans, outputs, and outcomes that make research easier to understand, trust, cite, reuse, and build on. A connected record can also strengthen credibility, preserve continuity across projects and teams, and make contributions visible beyond authorship position alone.

Institutions and research organizations

See a fuller picture of research activity and quality, with stronger signals of transparency, rigor, reuse, and contribution beyond publication counts alone. A connected record can also help institutions support evolving funder expectations, strengthen research integrity, and identify where researchers need policy, training, staffing, or infrastructure support.

Funders and policymakers

Increase the value of research investments by making funded work easier to understand, reuse, verify, and build on. A connected record can reduce avoidable duplication, support more complete reporting, strengthen accountability, and help identify where additional evidence, replication, or follow-up may be needed.

Publishers and research communicators

Strengthen the value and integrity of the published record by connecting articles and reports to the plans, data, materials, code, and context behind them. A connected record helps readers, reviewers, editors, and communicators assess findings in context and understand how claims were produced.

The public and people who rely on research

Benefit from a research system that is easier to scrutinize, correct, trust, and use. When evidence is more transparent and connected, research is better positioned to support decisions, policies, treatments, practices, and innovations that affect society.

WHY THIS FOCUS NOW
A sharper focus on the connected research lifecycle

Open science has made meaningful progress in advancing practices such as preregistration, data sharing, open access, transparency policies, and open infrastructure.

Lifecycle open science represents the next phase of this work: moving from individual open practices toward a more coherent, connected research record across the full lifecycle. For COS, that focus reflects a central insight from more than a decade of work: open practices have the greatest impact when they help make the research process easier to assess, verify, reuse, and build on over time.

COS has a role to play in that shift, but cannot advance it alone. Progress depends on researchers, communities, institutions, funders, publishers, infrastructure providers, and other partners helping create the norms, incentives, tools, and support that make connected research records possible across different fields, methods, and systems.

Read more about why COS is focusing on Lifecycle Open Science

IN PRACTICE
What Lifecycle Open Science looks like in practice

Studying public trust in science, transparently

Rodrigo Alonso Reyes Córdova studies how political identity shapes public trust in science. His connected research record links the preregistered plan, data, scripts, and publication, giving readers a clearer basis for understanding, checking, and trusting the work.

“Anyone can download my dataset, run my script, and compare the analysis to the interpretation in the article.”

Connecting the record behind sleep and wellbeing research

Jolana Samii studies psychological and behavioral factors that influence health and wellbeing, including how attachment insecurity relates to sleep quality. Her connected research record links a preregistered plan, data, and a preprint, making it easier to follow the work from research question to findings..

“Connecting these outputs creates a transparent record of the entire research process, from the initial research questions through to the final findings.”

POLICY, INFRASTRUCTURE, TRAINING, AND RESEARCH
How COS supports Lifecycle Open Science

COS supports lifecycle open science through infrastructure, policy and standards, training and community support, and research and evaluation. These areas reinforce one another: tools can make open practices easier to adopt, policies and incentives can make them more expected and rewarded, training can help communities put them into practice, and research can show where open practices are working, where they fall short, and how they can improve.

Infrastructure, tools, and training

COS builds and supports infrastructure, tools, training, guidance, and resources that help researchers and communities put Lifecycle Open Science into practice. Through OSF and related resources, COS helps researchers create study plans, link related outputs, improve discoverability, and connect outcomes back to what was planned. Learn more.

Policy and incentives

COS advances policies, standards, and incentives that support transparent planning, responsible sharing, complete reporting, and verification across the research lifecycle. This work helps institutions, funders, publishers, and research communities create conditions where connected research records are expected, rewarded, and easier to sustain. Learn more.

Research and evaluation

COS studies how open practices work in practice and explores how connected plans, outputs, and outcomes can support evaluation across the research lifecycle. This work helps strengthen the connected research record for researchers producing the work and for the people and organizations assessing its quality, credibility, completeness, usefulness, and reuse potential. Learn more.

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TAKE THE NEXT STEP
Help make research easier to understand, verify, and build on.

Lifecycle Open Science depends on researchers, institutions, funders, publishers, infrastructure providers, and open science communities working together to make the full path of research easier to see.

For researchers

Create a prospective study plan, then connect outputs and outcomes as your work develops.

Preregister your work →

Link outputs and outcomes back to your plan →

For organizations and communities

Explore resources that can help support connected research records through policy, training, standards, and implementation.

Transparency and Openness Promotion Guidelines (TOP) Guidelines →

Open science training →

Make the full path of research visible, connected, and verifiable.

THE CHALLENGEUnnecessary friction slows research progress

THE LIFECYCLE OPEN SCIENCE APPROACHStart with the plan, then connect the record

BROADER IMPACTA stronger foundation for research progress

WHY THIS FOCUS NOWA sharper focus on the connected research lifecycle

IN PRACTICEWhat Lifecycle Open Science looks like in practice

POLICY, INFRASTRUCTURE, TRAINING, AND RESEARCHHow COS supports Lifecycle Open Science

TAKE THE NEXT STEPHelp make research easier to understand, verify, and build on.