Open Science Framework Preregistration

A time-stamped, public blueprint of your research design, hypotheses, and analysis plan filed before data collection or analysis begins. The blueprint is by Open Science Framework (OSF).

Core Principles & Standards

  • Timing: Must be submitted before data collection, before observing human-coded data, or before accessing/analyzing pre-existing datasets. [1]
  • Separation of Intent: Clearly distinguishes confirmatory (hypothesis-testing) research from exploratory (hypothesis-generating) work to prevent p-hacking and HARKing (Hypothesizing After the Results are Known). [1, 2]
  • Time-Stamping & Permanence: Once submitted, OSF locks in a permanent, read-only timestamp and assigns a persistent DOI. [1, 2]
  • Transparency on Deviations: If your study changes after registration, you cannot alter the original timestamped record, but you must transparently disclose and justify deviations in your final report. [1, 2]

Popular OSF Preregistration Templates

OSF provides multiple specialized and general-purpose templates depending on your methodology: [1]

  • OSF Preregistration: The standard, comprehensive, general-purpose template for quantitative, hypothesis-testing studies.
  • AsPredicted.org Template: A streamlined, quick 8-question template derived from AsPredicted.
  • Generalized Systematic Review: Tailored for systematic reviews, scoping reviews, and meta-analyses.
  • Qualitative Preregistration: Adapted for qualitative and mixed-methods research where rigid quantitative analysis plans do not apply.
  • Secondary Data Preregistration: For projects utilizing existing datasets prior to looking at or analyzing the data.
  • Open-Ended Registration: A flexible format used when other structured templates do not fit or when registering a project retroactively.
  • Registered Report Protocol Preregistration: Used after receiving in-principle acceptance from a Registered Report journal. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Submission & Approval Process

  1. Create / Freeze Project: Build your project components on OSF or start standalone via OSF Registries.
  2. Select Template: Choose the schema that best matches your study design.
  3. Review & Submit: Fill out the required design, sampling, and analysis fields.
  4. Approval / Embargo: Submissions are approved either when all administrator contributors sign off or automatically after 48 hours. You can choose to make it immediately public or set an embargo period (up to 4 years). [1, 2, 3, 4]