February | 2015 | Scientific Data

This week we announced an update to our journal policies on code sharing. To encourage our authors to share their code, we also added a new code availability section to our article templates. This new code availability section focuses mainly on articles that rely on custom code to generate or process data described in our articles. But, almost all modern research employs code or software at some stage. We feel that, ideally, it is best to describe all code or software used in a study in a way that supports reproducible research. What does this mean for our authors who would like to share their code alongside their data? What should be included in the code availability section? Here are some suggestions from our editorial team.

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Michael P. Milham, MD, PhD, is an internationally recognized neuroscience researcher, clinician, and the founding director of the Center for the Developing Brain at the Child Mind Institute.

You have helped found and organize several major brain imaging data sharing projects, starting with the 1000 Functional Connectomes Project. Could you tell us a bit about how these projects got started?

That actually brings up a funny memory – back in 2008, myself and some colleagues had just had a paper accepted, which focused on establishing the test-retest reliability resting-state after MRI in the journal Cerebral Cortex. At that point I was in San Francisco, and went for a truly bizarre hair cutting experience.

As I walked out the door of the barbers, I rang my colleague Zarrar Shehzad and mentioned that we should start looking across imaging sites. Zarrar, a talented Research Assistant of mine at the time, asked “why would I do that?” My response was “you’re right! It’s not your thing”. I then called Bharat Biswal, a friend and colleague, who helped to found resting state fMRI – he was very excited to give it a try. Continue reading →

Scientific Data

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Monthly Archives: February 2015

Code Sharing – read our tips and share your own

Data Matters: Interview with Michael Milham

You have helped found and organize several major brain imaging data sharing projects, starting with the 1000 Functional Connectomes Project. Could you tell us a bit about how these projects got started?