Author: SIPS

What Researchers Need to Know about PsyArXiv Given Upcoming Changes to OSF Projects

In just a few short days (August 15th, 2026), PsyArXiv – the community preprint server for psychology – turns 10! 🥳 Over the past decade, our community has published over 58,000 preprints, allowing researchers and the public timely and open access to scientific works. We are delighted to see the strong uptake of the service by psychologists, and we want to take this opportunity to express SIPS’ strong commitment to a vibrant and growing preprint ecosystem. 

The Center for Open Science (COS) has recently announced their decision to phase out OSF Projects, a tool where researchers could post their data, code, and materials to make them openly accessible. OSF Projects has been used by tens of thousands of psychologists to make their research more open and transparent, and its loss is greatly felt by our community.

Given this news, SIPS wants to share how we are approaching our support of open infrastructure, specifically with respect to PsyArXiv, which is maintained by SIPS and currently hosted on the OSF. Below, we provide answers to anticipated questions that the community will have about PsyArXiv.

FAQs about PsyArXiv

  1. Do the changes with OSF Projects affect PsyArXiv?

Changes with OSF Projects do not impact posting preprints on PsyArXiv. However, after the OSF Projects phase-out period concludes, users will no longer be able to connect an OSF Project with a PsyArXiv preprint. Users will still have the option to link open data, code, and materials hosted elsewhere to their PsyArXiv preprints. 

  1. Is PsyArXiv run by OSF or the Center for Open Science?

No. PsyArXiv is run and maintained by SIPS volunteers. A team of moderators oversee the daily operations of the service and handle about 100 submissions each day. Policy decisions are made by the PsyArXiv Scientific Advisory Board; Scientific Advisory Board members are approved by the SIPS Executive Committee.

  1. Who owns PsyArXiv?

PsyArXiv operates under a detailed governance structure, which is headed by its Scientific Advisory Board. SIPS is responsible for hosting the server and pays for costs associated with it via funds raised specifically for PsyArXiv from member institutions and generous donors. We post updates about the service and its policies to our blog.

  1. What platform does PsyArXiv currently use?

PsyArXiv is currently hosted on the Open Science Framework (OSF), which means authors use the OSF to upload preprints and readers go to the OSF website to download preprints. OSF-hosted preprint services are separate from OSF Projects; only OSF Projects is being impacted by the recent announcement.

  1. Do PsyArXiv users need to worry about the preservation of their work or the future of the preprint service? 

All preprints on PsyArXiv will continue to exist in perpetuity. Around 100 new papers are submitted to PsyArXiv each day, and volunteer moderators work hard to get submissions that meet our posting guidelines approved as quickly as possible. Once approved by a trained moderator, submissions receive a DOI and are maintained indefinitely. Volunteers from SIPS and PsyArXiv are continuously working to financially sustain the service through grants, memberships, and donations to ensure that PsyArXiv is an outlet for open psychological research products for many years to come.

  1. How can I get involved with PsyArXiv or share my feedback?

You can reach the PsyArXiv team by email at psyarxiv@improvingpsych.org for general feedback on our preprint service. We would also be pleased to receive expressions of interest to join our team of moderators at this form. If you are employed at an academic institution and would like someone from our fundraising team to inquire about your institution becoming a member, please reach out to psyarxiv_funding@improvingpsych.org. 

Update: PsyArXiv Now Returning to Normal Operations

The ongoing technical issue with the OSF platform which had led to the temporary changes in PsyArXiv moderation described below have now been fixed. We expect any delayed papers will be handled by May 15. Thank you for your patience.

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Due to an issue with OSF, PsyArXiv is currently only able to “accept” manuscripts. If papers need to be revised before acceptance – for instance, due to not meeting our server’s policies (https://blog.psyarxiv.com/about-psyarxiv/), we will hold them in our queue until the OSF implements a fix.

We currently expect a fix the week of May 4, and we will update our status as we get more information on a timeline.

PsyArXiv Returns to Normal Operations

Thanks to PsyArXiv’s amazing team of 100+ moderators, all preprints meeting PsyArXiv’s requirements have now been approved! Thank you to everyone who volunteered and worked tirelessly over the past 3 weeks to get the situation under control. This was a true community effort, and a testament to the value our community sees in PsyArXiv.

We have now resumed normal operations, which means you can expect any newly posted or edited preprint to be moderated within 24-72 hours of submission. If you post a new preprint (or create a new version of an existing preprint), please be sure to follow the policies to ensure a smooth moderation process.

If your existing preprint is still pending moderation, it is likely that a moderator found an issue which will require an update before it can be approved. The most common issues are a mismatch between the information listed on the paper (e.g., title, author names, author order) and the preprint metadata (the information that is entered into the PsyArXiv system). You can speed up the approval of any preprints with these issues by editing the preprint file and/or preprint metadata to comply with PsyArXiv’s requirements.

Update to PsyArXiv Policies

PsyArXiv is updating its policies to formalize the guidelines that had already been in place. These policies clarify what types of contributions are appropriate to submit to PsyArXiv, and spell out the requirements for submitted preprints so moderators can swiftly approve them.

Since its inception, PsyArXiv has operated in a post-moderation system with informal policies and guidelines to help authors improve their contributions to our server. However, the recent increase in the volume of low-quality and out-of-scope contributions to PsyArXiv has precipitated a need for changes to how PsyArXiv moderates its preprints. Since August 19, 2025, PsyArXiv has moved to a pre-moderation workflow, meaning that submitted preprints will not be publicly available until they have been approved by the moderation team. Once activities have normalized, we expect moderation to take 24-72 hours. 

You can find our updated policies here.