An Exploration of the Functionality and Usability of Open Research Platforms to Support Open Science

Abstract

This paper examines the user experience and functionality of four open research platforms - Zenodo, Figshare, OSF, and Authorea - to assess their utility in disseminating research outputs that are varied in form as well as academic discipline, and in facilitating collaboration on larger projects by multi-institutional groups. The researchers analysed the platforms’ community features, record creation processes (including metadata fields), search functionality, and analytics capabilities.