The Center for Open Science (COS) is excited to announce the launch of a new feature on the OSF: Digital Object Identifier (DOI) Versioning for Preprints. This enhancement provides a robust way to manage preprint updates, enabling researchers to transparently track changes and demonstrate the evolution of their work. This enhancement is more than a technical upgrade—it highlights the critical role of community-driven collaboration in advancing the principles of open science. One such effort this feature directly supports is MetaROR, an initiative reimagining how metascience research is shared, reviewed, and rewarded.
Preprints—research articles shared publicly before peer review—are a cornerstone in advancing open and transparent research. The new DOI Versioning feature allows every update to a preprint to receive its own timestamped DOI, preserving the integrity of earlier versions while clearly linking them to the most current iteration. This helps maintain accurate citations and provides a clear record of the research lifecycle.
By enabling transparent version histories, DOI Versioning supports emerging publishing models like MetaROR’s Publish, Review, Curate, which separate the traditional publishing process into distinct phases. This empowers researchers to confidently share their work, integrate feedback, and publish in innovative venues, such as overlay journals.
MetaROR (MetaResearch Open Review) is an initiative developed by the Association for Interdisciplinary Meta-Research and Open Science (AIMOS) and the Research on Research Institute (RoRI). It aims to rethink how metascience research is shared, reviewed, and recognized. By championing innovative community-driven models, MetaROR seeks to make the research process faster, more efficient, and more rewarding.
At its core, MetaROR embodies a deep commitment to transparency and openness in scholarly publishing. It enables research to benefit from a transparent open peer review process and ensures that the evaluation process is rooted in community collaboration.
Ludo Waltman, Editor-in-Chief of MetaROR, shared his perspective: “MetaROR aims to contribute to a culture change in the way research is disseminated and evaluated. Robust state-of-the-art technical infrastructures are a foundational element for this culture change. I am excited to see how MetaROR’s partnership with COS helps strengthen the crucial infrastructure provided by OSF.”
The DOI Versioning update on the OSF supports MetaROR by providing a transparent, timestamped record of preprint versions that aligns with MetaROR's Publish, Review, Curate model. This ensures version history integrity, enabling MetaROR to link open peer reviews to the different versions of a preprint, thereby fostering trust and transparency in the process of evaluating new research results.
DOI Versioning is just the beginning. COS is actively preparing the next phase of integration, which will include COAR Notify implementation, providing a direct link between OSF and the Kotahi infrastructure used by MetaROR. These enhancements will further streamline connections between preprints, peer reviews, and other open science outputs, creating a fully mature ecosystem for researchers to share and receive recognition for their work. This includes peer reviews like those on MetaROR being visible and accessible on the relevant version of a preprint on one of the OSF services.
The partnership between COS and MetaROR reflects a shared commitment to advancing open, transparent, and reproducible research, a commitment also reflected in the Metascience 2025 Conference organized jointly by COS and RoRI, where we encourage authors to submit their work to MetaROR. By combining MetaROR’s community-oriented approach with OSF’s innovative features, we’re creating a more transparent and collaborative environment for the research community.
For more information on MetaROR, visit MetaROR's website. To learn more about DOI Versioning on the OSF, explore our help guide.
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