The Center for Open Science (COS) and National Institute of Informatics (NII) have announced a partnership to jointly advance open science infrastructure technologies. The collaboration will focus on the co-development and enhancement of the Open Science Framework (OSF), a free and open-source platform developed by COS to support transparent and reproducible research across disciplines.
At the heart of the partnership is a shared objective: to build national research data infrastructure on a parallel, localized version of the OSF called GakuNin RDM (GRDM). By adopting OSF as the technical foundation for this effort, NII aims to provide Japanese universities and research institutes with a robust, open-source platform for managing and sharing research outputs in line with international standards.
To support this goal, NII will contribute development and deployment expertise to extend OSF’s capabilities, while also integrating these and other OSF features into GRDM so that it can continue to meet the needs of the Japanese research community. COS will offer technical guidance and review during the upgrade of GRDM.
“We’re excited to partner with NII to extend the impact of the OSF and GakuNin RDM and support the growing momentum for open research in Japan,” said Nici Pfeiffer, Chief Product Officer at COS. “By working together to enhance OSF’s capabilities and adapt GRDM to national needs, we’re strengthening a shared foundation for transparent, collaborative, and reproducible science.”
The collaboration includes shared development roadmaps, mutual code review processes, and knowledge exchange around technical deployment. To enhance coordination and collaboration, the partners will also hold periodic joint training, demonstration, or workshop sessions to share direction, workflows, and technical updates.
“GakuNin RDM, developed based on OSF, is used by more than 170 universities and national research institutes in Japan to manage research data and is recognized as a key research data infrastructure in open science and science and technology policies,” said Yusuke Komiyama, Deputy Head of the Research Center for Open Science and Data Platform (RCOS) at NII. “Through this partnership with COS, NII believes we can provide a secure and user-friendly common platform for Open Science and RDM in Japan more effectively and sustainably.”
This partnership reflects a shared commitment to international cooperation in building sustainable, community-driven infrastructure that meets the evolving needs of global research communities. By aligning efforts, both organizations aim to reduce redundancy, improve interoperability, and accelerate innovation in open research infrastructure.
