The growth in the open science research community shows no signs of slowing down. Nowhere is that more evident than in the number of users of the Open Science Framework (OSF), an open-source research collaboration and management platform maintained by the Center for Open Science (COS).
OSF just reached 450,000 users — all of them planning, sharing, collaborating and discovering open research. At current rates, OSF is on pace to hit half a million users by the middle of 2022.
OSF’s registered users are leading by example in improving the openness, integrity, and reproducibility of research. Their adoption is having a viral impact as indicated by OSF’s tremendous non-linear growth every year since it launched in November 2012. It took five years between 2012 and 2018 to reach the first 100,000 users, two more years to reach 200,000, and another year to add 200,000 more and reach 400,000 by the close of 2021.
The open exchange of ideas fostered by OSF makes it easier for researchers to conduct open research across the research lifecycle, from planning and conducting to reporting and discovery. OSF also simplifies the open research process with efficient workflows and integration with services researchers already use. Researchers frequently use OSF to collaborate, store data, and improve the rigor of their studies.
The value of open research is also evidenced by the millions of research consumers who access, download, and use the content. In 2021, 10 million unique visitors downloaded more than 51 million files from OSF.
The open exchange of knowledge through OSF connects researchers and transforms the work they conduct. COS exists to foster that work and change scientific research through increasing openness, integrity and reproducibility of research. With 350 users joining OSF every day, we look forward to seeing how the numbers increase by the end of this year and into the future.
