File upload
We have set up the Big NIBS data repository within the Deakin University Figshare environment. Once you’ve followed the steps on the Share data page, click here and you will be taken to the submission page of the repository. To start a submission, drop your files into the space indicated, or select them via the Browse button. If you have multiple files to upload from your project (e.g., a spreadsheet, and the corresponding EMG files), you can start by just dropping one file and adding the rest subsequently (see below), or you can drag and drop multiple files at once.
If you drag and drop multiple files you will be asked whether you want to add the files under separate submissions (“Create individual new item”) or attach them together under one submission (“Group all files into a dataset”). Note that this will only pop up if you drag and drop multiple files initially. If this comes up, please select the second option, (“Group all files into a dataset”) to create one submission which includes multiple file attachments. This way, all your files from the one project will be in the same submission (i.e., one submission per project).
At this point the form for filling out the metadata to your submission will pop up (see instructions for this below). If you have more files to add, then before proceeding with filling out these fields, click on the ‘Add file(s)’ button at the top right of the page and select your file. Continue doing this for as many additional files as you’d like to add.
Importantly, do not add additional files using the drag or drop area at the bottom of the page (under “Do you have any additional files for this submission?”) because this will create a new submission (i.e., for another project) rather than adding additional files to your current project submission.
Metadata entry page
Once you have added all your files, you can then input the metadata for the submission. This is the information about the project/data that will help us to index the upload for future use.
The metadata entry form can be toggled by clicking the right-hand arrow or the “Add details” button. Some fields are mandatory, as indicated by an asterisk. There is no need to fill in the non-mandatory options if they are not relevant to your data submission (please leave these blank if not). Below is guidance to help you enter the fields. For some fields additional instructions or guidance text is provided on the submission page.
- Title (mandatory): Give your project a descriptive title that will help users find it easily. For example, the title could include the type of NIBS data and the population it was collected from.
- Authors (mandatory): You don’t need all author names, just yours or as many as you would like to input. Begin typing and the form will suggest authors from its international dataset. Select the appropriate author or, if they do not appear, select “Add author details” and complete the Last Name and any combination of First Name, email address and/or ORCID ID.
- Keywords (mandatory): Input any keyword/s that might assist in discovery of your dataset. Press <enter> after each keyword.
- Description (mandatory): Provide a brief summary of the data you are uploading.
- Location (optional): Indicate the country where the data were collected.
- Document type (mandatory): Indicate all of the type of files you have attached to the submission. Generally this will include ‘Data’. However, in addition to data, we recommend that you also submit the code you used to analyse the data. To do this, also select ‘Analytic code’ from the dropdown (below). If you do this, you should then also indicate what this code refers to in the Type of code field, and specify the language of the code (e.g., Python, R) in the Code language field.
- Population (mandatory): Select the populations that the data were collected from. If your study included multiple populations, select all of them. If two or more categories could describe your population, select each of them. If the population doesn’t exist in the dropdown, select ‘Other’ from the bottom, then in the next field ‘Population – Other’, type the applicable population.
- Type of NIBS (mandatory): If your study applied more than one type of NIBS, select all that apply. For example:
- Outcome/Dependent Variable (mandatory): List all the outcomes that you collected as part of your project. If you haven’t extracted/analysed them yourself, but someone else could from your raw data that you also upload (e.g., MEP latency), you can still select these. If the outcome is not listed, select ‘Other’ from the bottom, then in the next field ‘Outcome/Dependent variable – Other’, type the applicable outcome.
- Link to pre-registration of project (optional): If you pre-registered your project please provide the link here.
- Link to associated data (optional): If your experiment includes non-NIBS physiological data, such as MRI, EEG, etc., please upload that to an existing repository (such as OpenNeuro or INDI), and provide the link to that submission in this field. Use the following field, Associated data description, to tell us what that data are (e.g., MRI, EEG). For example:
- NIBSds format (mandatory): As outlined here, please format your data in our template data structure. If this is not possible, select No. (Note that this template is in preparation and is expected to be released in April 2025, so you may wish to wait until this is released to upload your data).
- Raw data included (mandatory): By raw data, we mean for example, neurophysiological output files from acquisition hardware/software If your study includes raw data please upload and select Yes here.
Before you submit please ensure you have uploaded all the files in the one submission. You won’t be able to add files after submission. When you have uploaded all files and completed all mandatory and relevant metadata fields, click the ‘Submit’ button in the bottom right. If you have any other questions on uploading your data, please post them to the Slack workspace.