Compliance and Standards

The TRUST Principles for Digital Repositories offer guidance for maintaining the trustworthiness of digital repositories, especially those responsible for the stewardship of research data. The Center for Open Science (COS) has endorsed the TRUST principles. 

COS has made a commitment to upholding the highest standards for digital repositories, guided by the TRUST principles: Transparency, Responsibility, User Focus, Sustainability, and Technology. These principles ensure that our platform remains a reliable, secure, and user-centric space for the global research community. Download the full COS TRUST PDF to learn more.

The Open Science Framework (OSF) adheres to the National Science and Technology Council's (NSTC) Desirable Characteristics for Data Repositories, aligning its practices with guidelines that foster transparency, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability of data. This compliance ensures that OSF partners, members, supporters, and researchers are engaging with a platform that not only meets federal standards but also champions the FAIR principles—making data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. By aligning with these guidelines, OSF enhances the integrity and efficiency of research processes, providing a robust foundation for collaboration and advancement in scientific research. Read our initial self-assessment and learn more about our latest metadata features.

Additionally, you can discover how the OSF is contributing to open infrastructure by exploring its listing on the IOI Infra Finder by Invest in Open Infrastructure. This inclusion underscores our commitment to transparent and accessible research tools, aligned with global standards of excellence.

Dedication to ensuring our user’s security and confidentiality while utilizing Center for Open Science (COS) services is a top priority. One way we do this is by publishing our practices on the OSF Account and Security Page. 

We conduct an annual SOC2 (Service Organization Control Type 2) accreditation audit. By obtaining a favorable SOC2 report from a certified CPA we aim to provide confidence for our users and partners through continued third party auditor attestation.

The SOC2 accreditation program is maintained by the AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants). Please do reach out to support@cos.io for any questions.

COS continually reviews community standards relevant to OSF, providing our transparent assessment and endorsement where appropriate. When available, we seek to utilize standards developed by research communities to further enable open research practices. ​​OSF is a registered data repository in re3data to ensure information is available for reviewing and selecting a repository to share and discover research outputs. OSF is listed in the FAIRSharing registry and provided in the Generalist Repository Comparison tool to help researchers select the best general repository for their data or other digital objects. 

Other community standards, such as the Datacite metadata schema, Crossref’s preprint metadata schema, the Research Organization Registry (ROR), and Bepress subject taxonomy are implemented on OSF. With the integration of CEDAR, OSF now supports community metadata schemas on research outputs. To share a community standard that would enhance OSF, email support@cos.io.

COS has consistently earned a Guidestar rating of Platinum for its financial transparency, the highest rating available. View the COS profile on Guidestar. You can also view COS’s profile on Charity Navigator to take an in-depth look at our operational transparency and adherence to best practices.

We invite all of our sponsors, partners, and members of the community to learn more about how our organization operates, the impact of our efforts, our financial position, and our nonprofit status.