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Research Data Management

Open Science Framework

Open Science Framework (OSF) is a free and open platform that supports research data management and collaboration. You can manage and share your data in a secure environment with access and version control. The system also has integrations with many third-party services such as Dropbox, Google Drive and GitHub.

Signing in

Creating a new project

  • Select Create New Project from the top menu
  • Enter the project Title and choose the Storage location (recommended: Germany)
  • Click Create and Go to project

Workspace elements

  • Files – Add and manage project files
  • Wiki – Add and manage wiki pages
  • Analytics – View usage statistics (available for public projects)
  • Registrations – Create a formal preregistration to proclaim what you’re planning to study
  • Contributors – Give others permissions to access and contribute
  • Add-ons – Manage add-ons, e.g. DropBox and Google Drive
  • Settings – Configure settings

Maintaining files

  • Go to the project front page by clicking the project title in the top menu
  • Select OSF Storage
  • Drag and drop files into the storage or click Upload and select the file
  • You can also create folders and move files by dragging and dropping them

Maintaining wiki pages

  • Select Wiki
  • Click New to create a new wiki page
  • Click Edit to modify an existing wiki page
  • You can also compare versions by clicking Compare

Adding contributors

  • Select Contributors
  • Click Add to add a new contributor
  • Search by name (the contributor needs to have an account in OSF)
  • Click the + icon to add a contributor
  • Select the permissions (Read, Read + Write or Administrator)
  • Select Bibliographic Contributor to display the contributor in project citations

Creating Components (additional workspaces)

  • If you have a complex project, you can divide it into smaller parts by creating Components (additional workspaces)
  • Go to the project front page and select Add Component under Components
  • Enter the details
  • You can also add contributors and tags from the main project
  • Click Create and Go to new component
  • The component works just like any other workspace. You can define the contributors separately for each workspace

Publishing your project

  • All projects are private by default. To make your project public, go to the project front page and select Make Public
  • Please review your projects, components and add-ons for sensitive or restricted information before making them public