Associated Data

The inclusion of associated metadata to sufficiently describe datasets will ensure that shared data is meaningful and useful to the public. Below we describe a variety of metadata that may be useful. Follow the link for a Glossary of Terms.

For the sharing of human data:

  • Number of datasets per participant
  • Age at time of data collection
  • Sex
  • Participant group descriptions (e.g., healthy controls with exclusion criteria; diagnostic group with method employed for diagnosis)
  • IRB approval for the sharing of human data, with the guidance of the BDR staff

Additional information when available:

  • Education
  • Ethnicity/race
  • Clinical metadata (e.g., use of Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) score, results of SCID evaluation)

For the sharing of non-human data:

  • Number of datasets per specimen
  • Species, strain, and phenotype
  • Age at time of data collection
  • Sex

For the sharing of structural, anatomical MRI data, some of the following information may be readable directly from the image file headers, depending on file format:

  • Image description, such as industry standard sequence name (e.g., FAST, MP-RAGE)
  • Scanner vendor
  • Scanner model
  • Field strength
  • Coil type
  • Acceleration factors (e.g., GRAPPA, SENSE)
  • TR
  • TE
  • Flip angle
  • Number of slices
  • Slice thickness
  • Field of view
  • Matrix
  • Image orientation
  • Data file format (e.g., DICOM, NIFTI, ANALYZE)
  • Sequence dependent information (e.g., partial k-space acquisition available on some sequences)
  • Provenance information related to any processed image data to include software version and process description

Additional information when available:

  • Scanner operating system
  • Gradient strength
  • Slew rate
  • Bandwidth
  • A pdf of the sequence parameters, when available

For the sharing of functional MRI data, some of the image-specific information may be readable directly from the image file headers; additional information related to the task is useful:

  • Image description, such as industry standard sequence name (e.g., FAST, MP-RAGE)
  • Scanner vendor
  • Scanner model
  • Field strength
  • Coil type
  • TR
  • TE
  • Flip angle
  • K-space traversal (e.g., spiral, linear)
  • Number of time points
  • Number of dummy acquisitions as relevant
  • Online motion correction included (e.g., PACE)
  • Number of slices
  • Slice thickness
  • Gap between slices
  • Slice order (e.g., interleaved/sequential, L/R, A/P, S/I)
  • Phase direction
  • Field of view
  • Matrix
  • Image orientation
  • Data file format (e.g., DICOM, NIFTI, ANALYZE)
  • Sequence dependent information (e.g., partial k-space acquisition available on some sequences)
  • Provenance information related to any processed image data to include software version and process description

Additional information when available:

  • Scanner operating system
  • Gradient strength
  • Slew rate
  • TA
  • Bandwidth

fMRI task-related information as follows:

  • Brief text description of the fMRI paradigm
  • Experimental conditions
    • name
    • stimulus modality
    • stimulus description
    • instructions to the participant
    • participant’s mode of response
  • Type of design (e.g., blocked, event, or mixed)
  • Timing information (e.g., epoch length, frequency of events)
  • Response apparatus
    • type (e.g., button box, joystick, belt, eye tracker)
    • manufacturer
  • Stimuli presentation devices
    • type (e.g., back-projection screen)
    • manufacturer

For the sharing of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data:

  • Image description and protocol name, such as industry standard sequence name (e.g., epi-bold)
  • Scanner vendor
  • Scanner model
  • Field strength
  • Coil type
  • Acceleration factors (e.g., GRAPPA, SENSE)
  • TR
  • TE
  • Flip angle
  • Number of slices
  • Slice Thickness
  • Phase direction
  • Field of view
  • Matrix dimensions
  • Image orientation
  • Kinds
  • Data type
  • Endian
  • Byte skip
  • Space
  • Space directions
  • Space units
  • Space origin
  • Measurement frame
  • Name of diffusion-weighted directions set (i.e., Jones30, Siemens default 30, …)
  • Diffusion-weighted directions (list)
  • Number of b=0 volumes
  • b=0 volumes first?
  • Number of b≠0 volumes
  • Total number of b-values / volumes
  • Multiple b≠0 values? (y,n)
  • b value(s)
  • Data file format (e.g., DICOM, NIFTI, ANALYZE)
  • Sequence dependent information (e.g., partial k-space acquisition available on some sequences)
  • Provenance information related to any processed image data to include software version and process description

For the sharing of microarray data for gene expression analysis:

  • Global annotation
    • Probe manufacturer
    • Probe platform
    • Probe chip
    • Data analysis method used, if processed (e.g., normalization method)
  • Sub-experiment annotation
    • Link to original data files, if only processed data submitted
    • Brain or body region
    • Phenotype/subject information (e.g., treatment)
    • Probes and associated GE values for each subject and brain/body part