Making big data open: data sharing in neuroimaging

• Published in: Nature neuroscience Vol. 17; no. 11; pp. 1510 - 1517
• Main Authors: Poldrack, Russell A, Gorgolewski, Krzysztof J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Nature Publishing Group US 01.11.2014; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 59/36; 631/1647/245/1628; 631/378/2649; 631/378/2650; 706/648/697/129; Animal Genetics and Genomics; Behavioral Sciences; Big Data; Biological Techniques; Biomedicine; Brain; Brain research; Data Collection; Databases, Factual; Datasets; Hard disks; Human subjects; Humans; Information Dissemination; Information sharing; Innovations; Laboratories; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Management; Medical imaging; Medical records; Neurobiology; Neuroimaging; Neurosciences; Reproducibility; review-article; United States > US
• ISSN: 1097-6256; 1546-1726; 1546-1726
• DOI: 10.1038/nn.3818

Neuroimagers have collected large datasets and many of these are now available online. In this review the authors discuss the current state of sharing task-based fMRI data and the many challenges it poses. In the last decade, major advances have been made in the availability of shared neuroimaging data, such that there are more than 8,000 shared MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) data sets available online. Here we outline the state of data sharing for task-based functional MRI (fMRI) data, with a focus on various forms of data and their relative utility for subsequent analyses. We also discuss challenges to the future success of data sharing and highlight the ethical argument that data sharing may be necessary to maximize the contribution of human subjects.