Becoming an open and responsible scientist is not only about publishing papers. Today, knowledge is much more than that. It also includes data, software, scripts… If you want to be a real open scientist, you should share all these parts of your research. To make this possible, a wide range of open science tools are now available to help you plan, manage, and share your work in a transparent and reproducible way.
1. Open Science Framework (OSF): A Tool for Planning and Managing Research
Being open starts at the beginning of your project. A good tool for this is Open Science Framework (OSF), a free platform that helps you manage your project from start to finish.
One of the main features of OSF is that it allows you to create projects and components, where you can structure your research into different parts (e.g., data, materials, protocols, or analysis). Each project can be kept private while you are working on it, and later made public when you decide to share it. This flexibility allows you to control what is visible and when. In addition, OSF makes it easier to share your project at early stages, for example through preregistration, allowing you to document your research plan and share initial progress in a transparent way.
With OSF you can also:
- Integrate different research tools.
- Generate DOIs
- Collaborate easily with other researchers.
- …
Many people could be afraid to share early ideas because they think someone might steal them, but this is not a big risk. In fact, using platforms like the Open Science Framework helps you prove that you had the idea first, since it creates a clear and time-stamped record of your work. It also allows you to keep everything organized and documented, showing the evolution of your research. At the same time, it protects your authorship by linking your name to the project and its outputs. For this reason, being open does not mean losing control, in many cases, it actually gives you more security, not less.
2. Data Sharing Platforms: How to Choose the Right Repository
Data should be published where the researcher wants and following the principle “as open as possible, as closed as necessary.” This means you should try to make your research outputs accessible, but also consider limitations such as privacy, ethics, or legal restrictions when needed.
How to Choose the Right Repository
Before choosing a repository, there are some important aspects to consider.
First, whenever the nature of your data allows it, you should select an open access repository that makes your data available to everyone. It is also important that the repository allows you to choose a license, so you can clearly explain how others can use, modify, or share your data.
Also, the data repository must assign a permanent identifier (DOI) to your dataset, ensuring that, if the website becomes unavailable, the DOI will always point to the dataset. This is also crucial because it is a requirement for many journals.
Other points to consider are the technical limitations of some repositories. You need to check if the repository you plan to use meets the size or file format requirements of your data.
And, once these factors are cleared, it is time to choose a repository. The first choice should be the one that maintains data in your disciplinary area. However, if you do not find a thematic repository that fits your research field, you can upload your data to a general data repository, but taking into account some of their limitations.
“What is data in the humanities and how you can make the most from your hard-earned research data?” in Wikipedia. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Consultation date: 10/04/2026
The Main Limitations of Some General Repositories Like Zenodo
One popular and widely use option to share research outputs is Zenodo. It generates DOIs and is widely accepted by many journals. However, it is not always the best option. A large amount of content from diverse disciplines is uploaded to Zenodo, including datasets, preprints, presentations, and other research outputs, often with insufficient or poor-quality metadata. The heterogeneity of these materials, combined with inconsistent metadata, limits their findability and, consequently, their reusability.
For this reason, it is important to also consider other types of repositories. As mentioned above, thematic repositories should be prioritized, as they focus on specific disciplines and usually offer better organization and discoverability, since their content is centralized around a single topic.
In addition, institutional repositories can be also very helpful, especially for early career researchers. These repositories often provide support during the upload process and help you complete metadata correctly, which can be difficult if you are not familiar with it. An example is e-cienciaDatos from Consorcio Madroño, which offers infrastructure and assistance for research data management of researchers working on universities that are members of the Consorcio Madroño.
To find the repository that best fits your needs, we recommend using tools such as re3data.org, a comprehensive registry of research data repositories covering all disciplines. It allows you to identify suitable repositories based on your research field, data type, and specific requirements.
3. GitHub + Zenodo: Tools for Code Sharing and Reproducibility
If you use code in your research, sharing it is essential. Articles explain what you did, but code shows exactly how you did it. And this is key for reproducibility.
A common way to share code is with GitHub.
Because with GitHub you can:
- Store and organize your code.
- Track changes (version control).
- Collaborate with others.
- Add a license to explain how others can use your code.
And you can make your code even more useful connecting your Github account with Zenodo, what allows you to:
- Generate a DOI for your repository
- Ensure long-term preservation
- Make your code citable
And, thanks to be hosted in Github, you will not have the findability problems exposed lately.
Incorporating these open science tools into your research workflow enables you to go beyond traditional publications and share the full value of your work. And, If you want to discover more tools, you can explore Digital Open Science Tools (DOST), a living document featuring many additional open science tools.