UMD Partners on Open Science Framework, Offers New Portal for Researchers


University of Maryland researchers now have access to the Open Science Framework (OSF), an online research management and collaboration platform from the Center for Open Science, the University of Maryland Libraries and the Division of Research announced.

The OSF system provides project management and collaboration tools across institutional boundaries, with the goal of making research results and data more transparent, discoverable and reusable. UMD researchers can log into the new OSF portal using their university credentials.

It also allows research teams to make all or part of their projects private or publicly accessible for broad dissemination. OSF enables connections to the many tools researchers already use, such as GitHub and Zotero. The platform provides enhanced version control and archiving of documents, and centralized storage, integration and sharing of data across the research life cycle. In addition, it provides DOIs (unchanging web links widely used in research) for projects, as well as metrics for views and downloads.

“Many researchers are recognizing the benefits of open science,” said Laurie Locascio, UMD’s vice president for research. “The ability for other researchers to find and see the various components of an open project, ranging from plans to data and other outputs, may ultimately improve the quality and impact of research.”

Dozens of UMD researchers already use the OSF framework, including Sociology Professor Philip Cohen, who called it a “great platform for managing scientific collaborations. Its sharing options allow open licensing and sustainable archiving, which is ideal for making research materials available to the wider research community.”

More information about OSF is available on the UMD Libraries’ website or the OSF for Institutions website. For questions about using UMD’s OSF portal for researchers, contact Nevenka Zdravkovska, head of the STEM Library, at nevenka@umd.edu.