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2024 IMPACT REPORT

Open Science, Open Future

Reflecting on 2024, the Center for Open Science (COS) is proud of the progress we’ve made toward a more open and transparent research ecosystem. Our mission to increase openness, integrity, and reproducibility of research has been strengthened by innovative initiatives, improved tools, and a reimagined approach to scholarly publishing that prizes transparency and rigor.

This year, the global research community achieved significant victories for open science. International funding agencies and research institutions have implemented robust transparency standards, while initiatives like the Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information have united diverse stakeholders around common principles for data sharing and accountability. Global policy reforms have set clearer expectations for reproducibility and openness. Furthermore, COS convened the Year of Open Science Conference, bringing together over 1,300 researchers from 28 countries to drive collaboration and dialogue. These advances affirm that scientific progress must be rooted in rigorous research and collective effort.

At COS, we remain steadfast in our commitment to ensuring that scientific progress is evidence-driven. Science must be an open system where claims and evidence are rigorously examined and where no single entity dictates the truth. Looking ahead, we are excited about the innovations on the horizon and the growing global community dedicated to building a more credible, inclusive research landscape.

Thank you for your continued support as we work together to build a future of credible, reproducible, and impactful science.

Brian Nosek
Executive Director
Center for Open Science

George Banks
Board Chair
Center for Open Science

OSF Impact in 2024

The Open Science Framework (OSF) is a community-driven platform that supports researchers at every stage of their work—from initial planning and data collection to analysis and sharing. By making research more transparent and collaborative, OSF empowers scholars to advance their work effectively. Here are some key numbers that highlight our progress this year:

OSF Users

121,594 new OSF users in 2024

OSF Users

Public Research Outputs

105,868 new public projects, registrations, and preprints in 2024

Public Research Outputs

Public Files Shared

Over 2.4 million new public files in 2024

Public Files Shared

29338935

Views on OSF-hosted content

49832647

Files downloaded

COS's Theory of Change in Action

Academic research is a social system where every participant plays a role driving change or maintaining the status quo. Our strategy focuses on catalyzing innovators and early adopters by providing the tools and training needed for open practices. Their visible success fosters new community norms that, over time, lowers barriers for publishers, funders, and institutions to adjust incentives and policies. In 2024, we advanced our Theory of Change—making open science possible, easy, required, normative, and rewarding—through initiatives that reinforce our mission.

Making it Possible and Easy

We create community-driven tools like OSF to empower researchers from planning and conducting studies to reporting and discovering results, all while embracing open science. In 2024, we introduced key improvements to streamline workflows: Boa for large-scale data mining, CEDAR integration for custom FAIR metadata, and a revamped preprints interface to simplify submissions and boost discoverability. Additionally, we have expanded our modular training program to help researchers implement open science practices with ease.

Making it Normative

We aim to make open science the natural, everyday choice for credible research. This year, both the Global Flourishing Study (with data from over 200,000 participants across 22 countries) and the Instagram Data Access Pilot (4 teams selected from 40+ submissions) integrated core open practices—like preregistration and Registered Reports—into their design. By requiring transparency and reproducibility up front, these initiatives introduce research communities to an open model that fosters collaboration and sets a new standard for large-scale, impactful studies.

Making it Rewarding

In 2024, we introduced Lifecycle Journal, an innovative platform that redefines scholarly publishing by aligning rewards with transparency and rigor. Instead of focusing solely on positive outcomes, Lifecycle Journal evaluates research based on methodological quality and openness throughout its lifecycle. By decoupling recognition from novelty, it aims to drive robust, reproducible work and show that transparency yields lasting benefits.

Making it Required

Open science has gained momentum as governments, funding agencies, and institutions adopted stronger transparency standards. The Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines, introduced in 2015, also received a major update in 2024. This version improves clarity, refines implementation strategies, and reinforces the importance of data sharing, preregistration, and replication in research assessment. These changes highlight COS’s commitment to strengthening research credibility and promoting adoption among publishers, funders, and institutions.

COS in the Media

Reimagining Research Infrastructure

"Many small waves of progress are building toward the bigger wave of change; we just need to remove the barriers and be open-minded."

Nici Pfeiffer, Chief Product Officer, reveals the evolution of OSF and discusses why changing incentives is vital for mainstreaming open science (The Scholarly Kitchen).

Transforming Research with Open Science Leadership

"Most of us in this reform movement feel strongly that open and reusable science can accelerate innovations, drive discoveries, and solve problems faster."

Lisa Cuevas Shaw, COS Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director, discusses how open science is more than just open access (Discovery Arc).

Shifting the Culture of Research

"I think there is broad buy-in on the need to change, and it has already hit the mainstream of many of the changes that we promote: sharing data materials, code, preregistering research, reporting all outcomes."

Brian Nosek, Executive Director of COS, explains how making transparency a normative practice can change the research landscape (Freakonomics).

Pushing for Greater Inclusivity in Open Science

"Open science is no longer niche; it’s becoming the norm. By fostering a global culture that values transparency, we can build trust and ensure research benefits everyone."

Tim Errington, Senior Director of Research at COS, highlights the spectrum of openness and how open science balances transparency with ethical and practical considerations (Times Higher Education).

Engaging the Community: 2024 Events

Nearly 40 virtual events and webinars were held in 2024, with over 10,000 total registrants.

Year of Open Science Conference

Supporter Engagement Series: Enabling Research Innovation

Advances in Research Evaluation: Large-Scale Efforts in the US and Worldwide

Transforming Research with Data Curation Practices

Researcher and Partner Highlights

VCU’s Data Science Lab Champions Open Science

"The OSF is a really easy-to-understand introduction to how to put open science methods into practice. It provides a user-friendly platform that connects seamlessly with other established tools, empowering VCU researchers to responsibly share their outputs."

Timothy York, Director of the Data Science Lab, VCU, discusses how as an OSF Institutions member Virginia Commonwealth University’s Data Science Lab is transforming research culture through courses, workshops, and collaborative efforts with VCU Libraries.

Bringing Taiwan Indigenous Peoples into Focus

"Thanks to this open data, Indigenous people are no longer invisible. The government is paying more attention, and there's a growing understanding of their challenges."

Dr. Ji-Ping Lin, Academia Sinica, sheds light on Taiwan Indigenous Peoples through his TIPD open dataset hosted on OSF. By bridging decades of missing data, his work provides critical insights into population dynamics and informs policy that helps ensure Indigenous voices are heard.

Uncovering the Impact of Public Libraries on Community Well-Being

"I think the power is our ability to find each other's work and really engage the tools that OSF offers — which is sharing our code, our full data sets, our thinking, and why we've constructed a thing in the way that we've constructed it. If we do this, we could learn much faster and produce policy and community-relevant results more quickly by sharing our thinking, not just our results."

Margo Gustina, University of New Mexico, explores how rural public libraries serve as vital hubs that strengthen community connection and improve quality of life.

Yale Law School Champions Open Legal Scholarship

"There are limited options for researchers and scholars to deposit scholarship in a repository without bearing some type of cost, either monetarily or by ceding control over their data. The primary goal of Law Archive is to break down barriers to access to legal scholarship and information."

Femi Cadmus, Law Librarian and Professor of Law, Yale Law School, explains the goal of Yale Law School launching Law Archive in 2024, a new preprint service built on the OSF infrastructure that enables free and open access to legal research.