OSF Preprints is a free, non-profit preprint platform operated by the Center for Open Science (COS) in Charlottesville, Virginia. Launched in 2016 on the Open Science Framework (OSF), it works differently from single-community servers like arXiv or bioRxiv: alongside a general, multidisciplinary OSF Preprints server, the platform hosts a network of community-run preprint services - currently around 15 - each with its own scope and volunteer moderators. Well-known members include PsyArXiv (psychology), SocArXiv (social sciences), EdArXiv (education research), MetaArXiv (metascience), MediArXiv (media studies), PaleorXiv (paleontology), Law Archive, and Thesis Commons (theses and dissertations). A few servers that started on OSF, such as EarthArXiv and engrXiv, have since moved to other infrastructure, so always check the current list at osf.io/preprints.

Because everything runs on OSF, a preprint can be linked directly to its supporting materials - data, code, preregistrations, and supplementary files - stored in an OSF project. That integration with open-science workflows is the platform's defining feature.

1. Create a free OSF account at osf.io - no institutional affiliation required.
2. Choose a server. Pick the community server that matches your field (PsyArXiv for psychology, SocArXiv for social sciences, and so on), or the general OSF Preprints server if no discipline server fits.
3. Upload your manuscript as a PDF or Word file, add title, abstract, contributors, subjects, and tags.
4. Choose a license. You keep copyright; OSF recommends CC BY 4.0 or CC0, though selecting a license is optional. Check journal policies first if you plan to submit the work later.
5. Submit for moderation. On most servers your preprint sits in a private, pending state until a moderator accepts it.
6. Share the DOI. Accepted preprints get a DOI and a persistent URL immediately, and you can post new versions as the paper evolves.

OSF Preprints does not perform peer review. Each community server sets its own moderation policy - most use pre-moderation, meaning a volunteer moderator checks that the submission is scholarly, in scope, and complete before it goes public; some use post-moderation, publishing immediately and reviewing afterwards. Moderation is a basic screen for relevance and compliance, typically completed within hours to a few days. It is not an assessment of methods or conclusions, so readers should treat OSF preprints as non-peer-reviewed work. Rejected submissions can be revised and resubmitted, and authors can formally withdraw a posted preprint (a tombstone page with the reason usually remains, since DOIs must stay resolvable).

Cite an OSF preprint like any preprint: authors, year, title, server name, and the DOI. For example, in APA style: Author, A. A. (2026). Title of the preprint. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/xxxxx. Always cite the DOI rather than the raw osf.io URL, and identify the specific server (PsyArXiv, SocArXiv, etc.) where relevant. If the paper is later published in a journal, cite the journal version and, where useful, note the preprint DOI. SciSpace's citation generator supports preprint references in APA, MLA, Vancouver, and thousands of other styles.

Posting on OSF Preprints does not count as prior publication at the vast majority of journals - most major publishers (Springer Nature, Elsevier, Wiley, PLOS, and others) explicitly allow preprints, and many encourage them. Practical points:

Nothing. OSF Preprints is free to post, free to read, and there are no APCs, submission charges, or reader fees on any hosted server. The Center for Open Science, a non-profit founded in 2013, sustains the infrastructure through grants, donations, and institutional partnerships. That also means there is no fee-waiver bureaucracy: researchers anywhere in the world, at any career stage, can share work without cost.

Accepted preprints are indexed in Google Scholar, OpenAlex, Europe PMC, the Web of Science preprint citation index, and OSF's own search, and each DOI is registered with Crossref, so citations to preprints are tracked. Preprints on OSF are discoverable alongside content from other servers through OSF's aggregated search. Because the platform sits on the Open Science Framework, a preprint can also point readers to its data, materials, and preregistration - which makes the work more credible and easier to build on.