SaaS
Center for Open Science
The Center for Open Science winds down the OSF Projects workflow — collaboration, file management, and storage — locking new project creation from 16 November 2026 and making all projects read-only after 19 February 2027; preregistration and preprints continue
departs 19 Feb 2027
Quick answers
- Is it true that OSF phases out its Projects workspace (storage & collaboration)?
- Yes. Center for Open Science has officially announced it, effective 19 Feb 2027. OSF (the Open Science Framework), run by the Center for Open Science, is used by researchers both to preregister and share studies and as a general workspace for collaboration, file management, and storage.
- When does it take effect?
- 19 Feb 2027. Verified against the vendor's own announcement.
- What should I use instead?
- If you use OSF Projects as an active workspace, move ongoing work to another repository, storage location, or workflow tool before the deadlines — new project creation and new private-storage uploads stop on 16 November 2026, and editing stops entirely when projects go read-only after 19 February 2027, so start well ahead of those dates.
What this means for you
OSF (the Open Science Framework), run by the Center for Open Science, is used by researchers both to preregister and share studies and as a general workspace for collaboration, file management, and storage. The Center is phasing out that workspace side of OSF, citing a challenging funding environment for open research infrastructure, and moving toward an integrated model with complementary services. Two dated steps: from 16 November 2026, no new projects or child components of existing projects can be created, and OSF stops accepting newly uploaded files into private storage; after 19 February 2027, all public and private OSF projects become read-only. What is NOT going away: study planning and preregistration via OSF Registries, preprint sharing, cross-repository linking of research outputs, and access to existing public projects — and all links and DOI identifiers continue to resolve indefinitely. The loss is specifically the ability to use OSF Projects as a live workspace: after the read-only date you can no longer add, edit, or share newly uploaded data, materials, or code there. Anyone using OSF as their active file store or collaboration hub for ongoing research needs to move that work elsewhere.
Where to go
If you use OSF Projects as an active workspace, move ongoing work to another repository, storage location, or workflow tool before the deadlines — new project creation and new private-storage uploads stop on 16 November 2026, and editing stops entirely when projects go read-only after 19 February 2027, so start well ahead of those dates. The Center specifically names Zenodo (the CERN-hosted repository for data, materials, and code) as a complementary service, and points users to its help guides for choosing an appropriate repository. You do not need to migrate for the sake of preserving links: existing public projects stay accessible and all DOIs and links keep resolving indefinitely. You migrate to keep a live place to create, edit, and share new work.
- Zenodo (CERN-hosted) — named by the Center as a complementary repository for data, materials, and code
- OSF Registries — retained on OSF for study planning and preregistration
- OSF Preprints — retained for sharing preprints
- An institutional or discipline-specific data repository / storage tool for active collaboration
OSF — the Open Science Framework, run by the non-profit Center for Open Science — is not shutting down, but the part many researchers rely on day to day is being wound down. In its official OSF Changes notice, the Center is phasing out the OSF Projects workflow: the collaboration, file management, and storage workspace. It cites a challenging funding environment for open research infrastructure and a shift toward an integrated model with complementary services.
There are two dates that matter:
- 16 November 2026 — no new projects or child components of existing projects can be created, and OSF stops accepting newly uploaded files into private storage.
- 19 February 2027 — all public and private OSF projects become read-only.
After the read-only date you can still open and read your projects, but you can no longer add, edit, or share newly uploaded data, materials, or code in them. That is the loss: OSF stops working as a live workspace for ongoing research.
Several things explicitly stay. Study planning and preregistration through OSF Registries, preprint sharing, and cross-repository linking of research outputs all continue. Existing public projects remain accessible, and — importantly for anyone who has cited an OSF link in a paper — all links and DOI identifiers keep resolving indefinitely. So this is not a data-loss event; it is the end of OSF as a place to actively create and edit project files.
If you use OSF Projects as your working store or collaboration hub, the task is to move ongoing work to another repository, storage location, or workflow tool before the deadlines. The Center names Zenodo, the CERN-hosted repository, as a complementary service for data, materials, and code, and points to its help guides for picking an appropriate repository. Because links and DOIs persist, there is no rush to preserve what is already public — the reason to migrate is to keep somewhere you can create, edit, and share new work after February 2027.
Entry changelog
- — last reviewed.
- — Entry created from the Center for Open Science's official "OSF Changes" page. Both dates (16 November 2026 no new projects/child components; 19 February 2027 all projects read-only), the phased-out vs. retained lists, the Zenodo recommendation, and indefinite DOI/link resolution are all quoted from that page. Surfaced via a Hacker News discussion framed as OSF "shutting down"; the primary source shows it is a phase-out of the Projects workspace, not a full OSF shutdown — corrected here to match the source.
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[](https://lastcall.dev/entries/osf-projects-phaseout)Spot an error or a changed date? Tell us and it’s corrected the same night.