The Center for Open Science (COS) exists to increase the openness, integrity, and trustworthiness of research. Over the next three years (2026–2028), we will focus our work around a single, unifying strategic direction: advancing Lifecycle Open Science. We will employ a practical, systems-level approach to making research more transparent, credible, and reusable across its entire lifecycle.
This strategic plan represents a convergence of our infrastructure, research, policy, and community-building activities. Rather than expanding into new mission areas, our plan sharpens focus, aligns programs, and strengthens evidence-based pathways for sustainable change in the research culture.
Mission: To increase the openness, integrity, and trustworthiness of research.
Vision: To enable a research culture that removes friction in knowledge production by manifesting transparency, sharing, inclusion, rigor, integrity, repeatability, trustworthiness, and identification and correction of error and uncertainty across the entire research lifecycle.
Purpose: To improve the quality of research production, consumption, and evaluation to accelerate advancement of knowledge, solutions, and treatments.
Our True North is advancing Lifecycle Open Science, defined as research with publicly accessible plans, contents (data, materials, code), and outcomes that are linked and findable in a persistent, open location.
Lifecycle Open Science makes the foundations of research claims visible and assessable. It enables research consumers to evaluate credibility, reuse materials, and identify strengths, weaknesses, and uncertainties. It also increases accountability among research producers and accelerates cumulative knowledge building.
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We advance Lifecycle Open Science through a systems-based Theory of Change, recognizing that no single intervention is sufficient. Culture change requires coordinated action across five interdependent levers.
These efforts are supported by continuous research and evaluation to assess effectiveness, identify boundary conditions, and inform adaptation.
We organize our work across five program areas aligned with the Theory of Change. An innovation pipeline moves ideas from experimentation to scalable, durable solutions.
Assessing Research Practices
Understand current behaviors to identify opportunities for open science interventions.
Reimagining
Research
Pilot and evaluate innovative policies, practices, and solutions for research progress.
Open Science Infrastructure
Develop and maintain open-source products and collaborative platforms to enable Lifecycle Open Science.
Open Science Solutions
Provide free, accessible tools and incentives to make Lifecycle Open Science standard and rewarded.
Capacity Building
Support researchers, organizations, and communities to adopt Lifecycle Open Science.
This strategic plan positions us to lead with focus, evidence, and collaboration at a time when trust in research is both critically important and contested.
By demonstrating, improving, and promoting Lifecycle Open Science, we will strengthen our partnerships with researchers, institutions, funders, and policymakers worldwide to build a more trustworthy, transparent, and effective research social system.
6218 Georgia Avenue NW, Suite #1, Unit 3189
Washington, DC 20011
Email: contact@cos.io
Unless otherwise noted, this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License.
Responsible stewards of your support
COS has earned top recognition from Charity Navigator and Candid (formerly GuideStar) for our financial transparency and accountability to our mission. COS and the OSF were also awarded SOC2 accreditation in 2023 after an independent assessment of our security and procedures by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA).
We invite all of our sponsors, partners, and members of the community to learn more about how our organization operates, our impact, our financial performance, and our nonprofit status.
