https://doi.org/10.18116/haxp-db39
One of the core factors that is critical to implementing the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles for all scientific ‘products’ (such as publications, data, software, etc.) is that information about these products is annotated using applicable standards and best practices. NITRC, as a distributor of information about a broad spectrum resources, relies on standards and best practices in order to be able to support discovery and distribution of these resources to the community.
Understanding Image Standards
The neuroimaging community is fortunate to have a number well
defined image standards (DICOM, NIfTI, BIDS, etc.) as well as the OHBM
Committee on Best Practices in Data Analysis and Sharing (COBIDAS) report. With these
standards and practices, along with the standards of citation
(publication, data, software), the community is well situated to
support FAIR practices in support of promoting a more reproducible
approach to scientific publication.
Standards and best practices, however, are only as good as the
adoption of them make them. In general, standards must emerge from
their communities of need, and must solve, practically, a specific
problem for that community. NIfTI, for example, was born out of the
need for disparate neuroimaging software tools to interoperate.
Often, however, the problem with standards is that there are so
many ‘potential’ standards; or so few. Potential standards are
often created quickly, in response to some time-critical need;
whereas community standards must emerge over time, overwhich the
utility, adoption, and relative impact of a particular standard can
emerge. Efficient identification of important community standards
is important in order to more quickly enable the sharing and
integration of information within that community.
The Endorsement of Standards
As part of its role to promote the field of neuroinformatics and aims to advance data reuse and reproducibility in global brain research, the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF) has taken on a new role in the area of vetting and endorsement of standards and best practices for the neuroscience community, broadly defined. As part of the endorsement process, INCF supports an independent assessment of a potential standard in terms of: Openness, FAIRness, Testing and Implementation, Governance, Adoption and Use, Sustainability, and Uniqueness. Their review process includes internal review and assessment as well as the opportunity for public comment. Currently endorsed INCF standards include the Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS) specification. INCF actively solicits potential standards from the community once the developers feel that the assessment criteria can be met.
The Endorsement of Standards
As part of its role to promote the field of neuroinformatics and aims to advance data reuse and reproducibility in global brain research, the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF) has taken on a new role in the area of vetting and endorsement of standards and best practices for the neuroscience community, broadly defined. As part of the endorsement process, INCF supports an independent assessment of a potential standard in terms of: Openness, FAIRness, Testing and Implementation, Governance, Adoption and Use, Sustainability, and Uniqueness. Their review process includes internal review and assessment as well as the opportunity for public comment. Currently endorsed INCF standards include the Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS) specification. INCF actively solicits potential standards from the community once the developers feel that the assessment criteria can be met.
NITRC and INCF have historically had a close working relationship. INCFs role as an endorser and promoter of community standards and best practices will continue to play a major role in supporting the information infrastructure that NITRC depends on in order to maximize the FAIRness of NITRC content.
Quarterly Newsletter Article from December 20, 2018