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Best practices in data analysis and sharing in neuroimaging using MRI

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Abstract

Given concerns about the reproducibility of scientific findings, neuroimaging must define best practices for data analysis, results reporting, and algorithm and data sharing to promote transparency, reliability and collaboration. We describe insights from developing a set of recommendations on behalf of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping and identify barriers that impede these practices, including how the discipline must change to fully exploit the potential of the world's neuroimaging data.

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Acknowledgements

T.E.N. is supported by the Wellcome Trust (100309/Z/12/Z) and NIH (R01 NS075066-01A1, R01 EB015611-01). B.T.T.Y. is supported by Singapore MOE Tier 2 (MOE2014-T2-2-016), NUS (DPRT/944/09/14, R185000271720), NMRC (CBRG14nov007) and the NUS YIA. S.B.E. is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, EI 816/4-1, LA 3071/3-1; EI 816/6-1), the National Institute of Mental Health (R01-MH074457), the Helmholtz Portfolio Theme 'Supercomputing and Modeling for the Human Brain' and the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 604102). M.H. was supported by funds from the German federal state of Saxony-Anhalt and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), project: Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences, and CRCNS BMBF/NSF (01GQ1411/1429999). N.K. was supported by the UK Medical Research Council and a European Research Council Starting Grant (261352). A.C.E., S.D. and T.G. are supported by the Irving Ludmer Family Foundation and the Ludmer Centre for Neuroinformatics and Mental Health. T.W. was supported by a ZonMw TOP grant (91211021). R.A.P. is supported by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. M.P.M. is a Phyllis Green and Randolph Cowen Scholar and is supported in part by the NIH (U01 MH099059; R01 AG047596). J.-B.P. is supported by the NIBIB (P41EB019936) and by NIH–National Institute on Drug Abuse (U24DA038653), as well as by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Warwick, Coventry, UK

    Thomas E Nichols

  2. McGill University, Montreal, Canada

    Samir Das, Alan C Evans & Tristan Glatard

  3. Montreal Neurological Institute, Montreal, Canada

    Samir Das & Alan C Evans

  4. Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), Jülich Research Center, Jülich, Germany

    Simon B Eickhoff

  5. Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Simon B Eickhoff

  6. Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada

    Tristan Glatard

  7. Otto-von-Guericke-University, Magdeburg, Germany

    Michael Hanke

  8. Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences, Magdeburg, Germany

    Michael Hanke

  9. MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK

    Nikolaus Kriegeskorte

  10. Child Mind Institute, New York, New York, USA

    Michael P Milham

  11. Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, New York, USA

    Michael P Milham

  12. Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA

    Russell A Poldrack

  13. University of California, Berkeley, California, USA

    Jean-Baptiste Poline

  14. NEUROingenia Clinical and Research Center, Mexico City, Mexico

    Erika Proal

  15. Inria, Paris-Saclay University, Paris, France

    Bertrand Thirion

  16. Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

    David C Van Essen

  17. Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Tonya White

  18. National University of Singapore, Singapore

    B T Thomas Yeo

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  1. Thomas E Nichols
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  2. Samir Das
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  3. Simon B Eickhoff
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  4. Alan C Evans
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  6. Michael Hanke
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  7. Nikolaus Kriegeskorte
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  8. Michael P Milham
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  9. Russell A Poldrack
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  10. Jean-Baptiste Poline
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  11. Erika Proal
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  12. Bertrand Thirion
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  13. David C Van Essen
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  14. Tonya White
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  15. B T Thomas Yeo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas E Nichols.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Nichols, T., Das, S., Eickhoff, S. et al. Best practices in data analysis and sharing in neuroimaging using MRI. Nat Neurosci 20, 299–303 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.4500

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