The Center for Open Science (COS) is pleased to announce that it has extended the capabilities of its new open source preprints service, OSF |Preprints to include branded service capabilities, and has launched three major, new branded versions. The new services, PsyArXiv, SocArXiv, and engrXiv, are the first three branded versions of COS’s open source preprints platform, launched today. These partnerships will provide free, open access, open source archives for psychology, social, and engineering science research and are in response to the growing need for faster, open sharing of research on truly open access platforms.
The launch of the OSF |Preprints branded services continues COS’s ongoing commitment to open and transparent research practices. The new preprints service is built on COS’s flagship platform, the Open Science Framework, which helps researchers design and manage their project workflow, data storage, DOIs, and collaboration. COS has leveraged that platform to help those researchers discover new research as it happens and to receive quick feedback on their own research prior to publication.
The branded preprints platform from COS provides organizations that want to launch their own preprints service an easy, robust, and stable solution. The platform can be configured to match their brand, editorial focus, licensing requirements, and taxonomy. Once configured, a new service can be up and indexing new preprints in a matter of days.
Over a million preprints have been already indexed from a variety of sources and can be accessed by selecting a subject of interest, entering specific search terms, or browsing the preprints most recently added to the service. Preprint contributors are also encouraged to include links to their research, if available. If the preprint is associated with an existing OSF project, that project can also be easily accessed and explored. OSF |Preprints uses SHARE to aggregate search results from a variety of other preprint providers like arXiv, bioRXiv, PeerJ, CogPrints and others into its archive.
“Through our collaboration with the Center for Open Science, we have gained access to expertise from a diverse set of people,” said Devin Berg from engrXiv. “Whether it is the team behind the Open Science Framework or SocArXiv and PsyArXiv, all are working towards a common goal and all are passionate about making science more open.”
Ben Brown from PsyArXiv added, “by associating with the Center for Open Science, a name the public recognizes as a leader in open science innovation, PsyArXiv is lent credibility and given a wider audience. Further, because COS provides the architecture supporting branded preprint services, we have been able to focus on meaningful innovations with far fewer concerns about implementation feasibility.”
Philip Cohen from SocArXiv also said that "SocArXiv wants to open up social science, to make it more engaging, more efficient, and more inclusive. The OSF |Preprints service will allow us to do that by linking all of our work in an open network across many platforms, without barriers to discovery or access. We are thrilled to be part of it."
“The science and research communities are evolving towards improved reliability and reproducibility of results,” said Brian Nosek, COS’s Executive Director. “OSF |Preprints sets the tone for a more open approach to data access, preregistration of research, and quick feedback on completed work. In short, OSF |Preprints can help improve our science, increase our communication, and hopefully improve the speed and quality of our outcomes. The interest on the part of our new partners to launch their own open preprints services only confirms this trend.”
The Center for Open Science (COS) is a non-profit technology company founded in 2013 with a mission to increase openness, integrity, and reproducibility of scientific research. COS pursues this mission by building communities around open science practices, supporting metascience research, and developing and maintaining free, open source software tools. The Open Science Framework (OSF), COS’s flagship product, is a web application that connects and supports the research workflow, enabling scientists to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their research. Researchers use the OSF to collaborate, document, archive, share, and register research projects, materials, and data. Learn more at cos.io and osf.io, or follow us on Twitter @OSFramework.
Media: Rusty Speidel: rusty@cos.io
Starting a Branded Preprint Service: Matt Spitzer: matt.spitzer@cos.io
Web: https://cos.io
SocArXiv: Philip Cohen: socarxiv@gmail.com, @socarxiv, socopen.org
EngrXiv: Devin Berg: info@engrxiv.org, @engrxiv, blog.engrxiv.org
PsyArXiv: Ben Brown:bbrown6@ggc.edu, @PsyArXiv, psyarxiv.com