Should I publish the contents in my Git repo also on OSF?

Question

I have a git repo (on GitLab) and it contains all the things I used for a specific research project (it's a research compendium). 

Should I link it to the Open Science Framework (OSF)?

If so, why? If not, why?

I asked the same question on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HeidiBaya/status/1273150809455431680

Answer 1

I'd like to share the answers to my tweet.

• You get a DOI
• Long term archiving with stable link (see also federicoleva's answer)
  • You can connect a GitHub/Lab repo to OSF, & then snapshot the Git repo contents on OSF by creating a 'registration' of the OSF project. That pulls in the Git content to OSF, freezes it there, & gives a DOI. Do this on submission & again on publication.
• OSF provides anonymous links which could be helpful for double-blind review.
• If you only provide the link to a git repo without referring to a commit, it's getting ambiguous which state of the repo you are actually referring to. OSF + DOI solves that issue.
• Having everything in one place. Especially if preprints in your field are published via OSF (for example PsyArXiv).

Thanks to everyone for the helpful input!

Comments

I like when more than one git forge is supported! Does OSF support also self-hosted Gitlab forges?

Answer 2

Yes, because your git repository may disappear any time. I constantly encounter papers which link some GitHub URL long since dead.

A good open archive also makes your software work more easy to cite, for instance by assigning a DOI.

I have not deposited software on OSF but I did in Zenodo, where it's particularly easy for projects hosted on GitHub. See: https://help.zenodo.org/