# Rseng Open Science Practices > Covers the researcher-facing open science workflow: setting up OSF projects that link materials, data, code and registrations, preregistering studies and analysis plans, depositing preprints and linking them to published versions, participating in open peer review, and choosing openness levels honestly. Use when the user mentions open science, OSF, preregistration, registered reports or preprints, wants their research process (not just the software) open, asks where to preregister or preprint, or when a project's openness claims should become verifiable practice. - Skill: `fdiblen/rseng-open-science-practices` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add fdiblen/rseng-open-science-practices` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/fdiblen/rseng-open-science-practices/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Research & Search - License: CC-BY-4.0 - Author: fdiblen (https://skillmd.com/u/fdiblen) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/fdiblen/rseng-open-science-practices --- # Open science practices Open science extends what this pack does for software to the whole research workflow: materials, data, analysis plans, manuscripts and reviews, open by default and closed only with reasons. For an agent the job is concrete plumbing, not advocacy: set up the platforms, wire the links between artifacts, and make each openness claim verifiable. The payoff structure is worth stating when relevant: preregistration protects claims from hindsight, preprints establish priority and speed feedback, open materials earn reuse and citations - openness is self-interest aligned with integrity. ## The OSF project as the hub The Open Science Framework (osf.io, run by the Center for Open Science) is the general-purpose spine for open projects: - Structure: one OSF project per study, with components for materials, data, analysis code and preregistration; connect the code repository rather than copying it (OSF links forges; the repository stays the working home - rseng-version-control-review). - Every component gets a persistent identifier and citation; wire these into the paper and the repository README so artifacts reference each other both ways (the same both-ways discipline as rseng-archiving). - Access control is per-component: public materials next to embargoed data next to private drafts is a normal shape - "as open as possible, as closed as necessary", with reasons stated (rseng-regulatory-compliance governs the closed parts). - OSF has a REST API; bulk setup and link auditing are scriptable when a lab runs many projects. ## Preregistration A preregistration is a frozen, timestamped analysis plan filed BEFORE the data is seen - the strongest cheap defense against hindsight bias, and increasingly expected in several fields: - File it on OSF's registration system (or a domain registry); once registered it is immutable - that is the point. - The plan should be code-shaped where possible: hypotheses, exact variables, exclusion rules, models and inference criteria - ideally with the analysis script itself attached, run on simulated or pilot data (rseng-reproducibility's discipline applied before data collection; power-analysis code belongs here too). - Deviations happen legitimately: the practice is to REPORT them as deviations with reasons, not to hide them - preregistration separates confirmatory from exploratory, it does not forbid exploration. - Registered Reports go further: peer review of the plan before results exist, with in-principle acceptance - suggest the format when the field's journals offer it. ## Preprints - Deposit at submission time (arXiv-class or domain servers; ASAPbio documents the landscape and journal policies) - a DOI'd preprint establishes priority and makes the work citable months or years early. - Check the target journal's preprint policy first (most allow it; a few constrain versions) and use the journal's own checking where unsure. - Link the chain: preprint to published version (servers support the link; OpenAlex tracks it - rseng-citation-hygiene uses this when verifying references), and both to the OSF project, data and code DOIs. The linked cluster IS the open research object. - Versioned preprints are normal; update after major revisions so readers land on current claims. ## Open peer review and open participation - When venues offer open review, the practices from rseng-software-peer-review transfer: constructive, specific, evidence-based - with a name on it. - Review artifacts too: data and code review during peer review (CODECHECK-style execution) is open science applied to the evidence layer (rseng-software-peer-review, rseng-research-integrity). - Community review of preprints (public comments, review platforms) counts as scholarly contribution; encourage recording it (ORCID records review activity). ## Keeping openness claims honest Before submission or reporting, audit the claims: "data available at X" resolves and matches (rseng-archiving's verify step), "preregistered" links to the actual registration and deviations are reported, "code available" points at a tagged, licensed, citable release (rseng-publishing-releasing, rseng-licensing, rseng-citation-metadata). The open-science story is the sum of verifiable links - and AI contributions to any of it are declared in aidecl.yaml (rseng-ai-declaration). ## Working with this skill This skill is source-independent: its authority is the OSF and Center for Open Science documentation and ASAPbio resources linked below. It is the researcher-workflow face of what rseng-fair-software, rseng-reproducibility and rseng-archiving provide at the artifact level. Learn more (verified): - https://osf.io - Open Science Framework - https://www.cos.io - Center for Open Science - https://www.cos.io/initiatives/prereg - preregistration guidance - https://asapbio.org - ASAPbio preprint resources - https://orcid.org - ORCID researcher identifiers ## Related skills Check whether any of these applies before moving on: - rseng-archiving - both-ways artifact linking discipline - rseng-citation-hygiene - preprint-to-published version drift - rseng-publishing-releasing - citable code release behind claims - rseng-regulatory-compliance - governs the closed components - rseng-research-integrity - preregistration deviations reported honestly - rseng-software-peer-review - open review practices transfer