Researchers can transform any post or discussion into a citable scholarly publication with just a few clicks. The process currently integrates with Zenodo and InvenioRDM to generate DOIs, archive the content, and create structured metadata records that meet scholarly publishing standards.

When archiving a post, researchers can:

• Add formal metadata (title, abstract, keywords, license)
• Include or exclude replies or comments
• Add co-authors (prepopulated from discussion participants if including comments)
• Set visibility and access permissions
• Choose the publication type and categorization

The Open Science Network enables institutions to meet global open science requirements by design. When researchers archive discussions as DOI-certified publications, they automatically create FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) research outputs that comply with most institutional and funder mandates.

The platform supports flexible visibility controls - researchers can keep discussions private during early research stages and make them publicly accessible when ready. This "as open as possible, as closed as necessary" approach adapts to diverse policy requirements while respecting researchers' workflow needs.

For institutions with open science mandates, OSN transforms routine scientific conversations into compliant research outputs without adding bureaucratic overhead, and seamlessly integrates them into the scholarly record.

Yes, the Open Science Network is built on the open social web, enabling seamless collaboration across institutional boundaries while maintaining local data sovereignty. Researchers can follow and interact with colleagues on other OSN instances, as well as Mastodon, Bluesky, Bonfire and other federated platforms.

This means a publication created on your OSN instance can include contributions from researchers at universities worldwide, even if they're using different platforms. The federated architecture ensures that global collaboration doesn't require surrendering control of your community's data or governance policies.

Each institution maintains complete autonomy over their community while participating in the broader scientific social web, reconciling data sovereignty with global reach.

The Open Science Network software is released under the AGPL license as a public common good, making it completely free to use. To get started, you need:

Technical requirements:
• A server (owned or rented) to host your instance
• Basic server setup/admin capabilities, or IT support
• Domain name for your community
Governance requirements:
• Define a code of conduct and community policies
• Establish moderation procedures for misuse (including spam or harrasment originating from other servers)
• Determine access controls (open signup, invite-only, or SSO integration)
Optional enhancements:
• ORCID API integration for automatic profile updates
• Repository services (Zenodo, InvenioRDM, etc.)
• Institutional SSO (OAuth2 or OpenID Connect)
• Custom branding and identity
• Custom extensions with new features and integrations

You maintain complete ownership and control of all data generated on your instance, ensuring compliance with institutional policies and data governance requirements.

Yes, we offer pilot programs and premium services including:

• Hosting: Server setup, maintenance, and updates—either assisting your IT team or as a managed service.
• Custom development: Tailored features for your institutional needs.
• Training and onboarding: Comprehensive support for adoption.
• Integration services: Connecting with existing institutional systems.
• Branded applications: Custom mobile and web apps.

No. There are no licensing fees, per-seat pricing, usage limits, or vendor lock-in mechanisms. The AGPL license ensures the software's source code remains free forever.
Our sustainability model focuses on donations and optional services (like custom development, hosting, training, or consulting) rather than mandatory fees. You can always export your data, modify the software, or migrate to different hosting without restrictions.

OSN sustainability comes from multiple sources:

• Grant funding: Research and development grants for open science infrastructure
• Donations: Community and institutional support for the public good
• Optional services: custom development, managed hosting, and training programs
• Institutional partnerships: Collaborative development with research organisations

OSN is built on Bonfire, a modular framework for federated social networks. The initiative is led by the Bonfire team in collaboration with scientists and researchers, ensuring development stays focused on actual research community needs.
The modular architecture allows communities to add features as they evolve, from repository connectors to peer review workflows, without vendor lock-in.

You maintain complete control over your data with full export capabilities. All conversations, publications, metadata, and user data can be exported in standard formats for archiving or importing into compatible platforms

Yes, OSN uses ActivityPub federation to connect with the broader scientific social web. Researchers can follow and interact with colleagues on Mastodon, other Bonfire instances, and ActivityPub-compatible platforms.
OSN is also compatible with bridging systems for Bluesky interoperability, enabling interaction with researchers across different platforms.

Administrators and users have complete control over access, visibility, and participation:

Registration options:

• Invite-only: Curated membership through invitations
• Institutional SSO: Automatic access for authenticated users
• Open signup: Public registration (generally discouraged for research communities)
• Closed community: No new registrations

User-level sharing controls:

• Share publicly
• Share with local instance members only
• Share with your existing network
• Share with specific circles/groups
• Share with specific users

Administrators can set default sharing options for the community, ensuring alignment with institutional policies and privacy needs.

OSN is designed for integration, not replacement. We can create adapters and connectors for existing research infrastructure including repository services, institutional authentication systems, and publication databases.

The platform already integrates with ORCID for researcher identity and automatic publication history import, OpenAlex for research metadata enrichment, and Zenodo/InvenioRDM for data sharing and preservation.

When researchers sign in through Single Sign-On, their research profiles appear immediately with publications, affiliations, and interests automatically populated.

OSN integrates with research repositories to link conversations directly to relevant datasets, code, and supplementary materials. When researchers share papers, the system automatically enriches them with metadata from multiple sources: co-authors, journal information, open access links, and connections to related datasets or software.

Through OpenAlex integration, researcher profiles are automatically enriched using their ORCID ID to pull comprehensive research data. This includes widgets displaying their most recent publications, research topics, institutional affiliations and more, all without manual data entry. The system creates dynamic research profiles that stay current as researchers publish new work.

This creates a comprehensive research environment where discussions, data, publications, and researcher expertise form an interconnected web of knowledge, all while maintaining institutional control over your community's intellectual assets.

Yes, researchers have full control over their published content. They can update metadata for existing publications or create new versions that automatically link to previous iterations, maintaining complete publication history and citation integrity.