OSF Dictionary
| Term | Definition of the term |
| OSF | The Open Science Framework (OSF) is a research platform designed to help support researchers practice open science in every step of the research life cycle. Learn more. |
| Projects | Collaborative workspaces to plan, collaborate, and share information about your research study. Projects are a great place to store files, data, and demonstrate current activity on a project. Projects can be made public to the work or private so only those on your team and close collaborators can access it. Learn more. |
| Contributors/ Collaborators | Users that are associated with and collaborate on a project, registration, or preprint. Learn more about Project contributors and Registration contributors. |
| Registrations |
Registrations are a way for researchers to provide a clear, and transparent research plan prior to data collection. Researchers register their study plan, so that any results that fit or do not fit expectations, do not retroactively change your plan. Learn more. |
| Preregistrations |
A specific type of registration where a research study plan is submitted before reviewing the data. Pre-registrations can be updated but are time-stamped, all changes are highlighted to promote transparency. You can create or browse both registrations and preregistrations on OSF. Learn more. |
| Draft registrations | Registrations or preregistrations that are actively being worked on by its contributors. Learn more. |
| Embargoed registrations | Registrations that were submitted to a registry, but kept private from others. All embargoed registrations have a preselected end date, where they will become publicly available. Learn more. |
| Affiliated institutions | Organizations with an OSF Institution account to collect the published works from researcher’s affiliated with them. This is automatically filled when a project is affiliated with an institution. Learn more. |
| OSF Preprints | A manuscript shared with a public audience without peer review. Posting a preprint allows you to receive rapid feedback on your research and find a broader audience for your work. Learn more. |
| Licenses | A way of protecting your intellectual property. Learn more. |
| Wiki | A multipurpose communication tool for collaborators on a project. A wiki, stores information about the project, but can be used to provide background information, updates to team members, embed videos, highlight important information, or simply to house an abstract. Learn more. |
| Files | Where project files, folders and data can be stored. This allows you to organize your files in a manner that makes sense to you and your project’s needs. Learn more. |
| Add-on's | Third-party software that provides a service inside of the OSF. Often storage Add-ons are used to store larger amounts of data or connect to your existing data repositories. Use our Feature Comparisons Chart to choose the provider best suited for your storage and research needs. Learn more. |
| Components | Folders with custom privacy settings. These are sub-projects to help organize your research and create a hierarchy within your main project. A component's privacy settings, contributors, tags, wikis, add-ons, and files are customizable and separate from the main project. Learn more. |
| Wildcard | Wildcards are specialized syntax enabled on some search platforms, and wildcards that are available will vary between platforms. Wildcards are used to make a search more specific and effective. Learn more. |