What types of data?

Researchers can deposit any type of NIBS data here (e.g., clinical outcome scores after repetitive TMS, single or paired-pulse TMS MEPs, behavioural scores after transcranial ultrasound, etc.). Uploaded data should undergo as few investigator operations as possible/practical. For example, for evoked potential data, you should upload all amplitudes from all conditions, without deleting of editing any observations. All data must be de-identified.

Data will primarily be uploaded in two forms: 1) in neurophysiological output files from acquisition hardware/software; and 2) in spreadsheets containing this extracted data (including all of variables in your experiment). Uploading the neurophysiological output data means that the downloader can extract other variables not already in the spreadsheets, as well as allowing many more analyses in the future, including for example, analyses of latency, shape, phases, time-series data, silent periods, of evoked potentials, and many more novel analyses we may not have thought of. You can zip this up into a single folder for upload. Uploading the spreadsheets places data into a common format that facilitates data sharing and the pooling of data across studies, and allows data to be easily read into statistical software. See guidelines for how to format these spreadsheets below.

Because the field needs to know the factors that predict NIBS responses, in the spreadsheets researchers should also include all other available data from the NIBS experiment. For example, individual factors (e.g., age, years since diagnosis, clinical/behavioural/performance scores etc.), and methodological factors (e.g., stimulation intensity, machine used, neuronavigation data etc.), and any other data collected in the experiment.

Lastly, we  highly recommend that users also share the other physiological measures (e.g., EEG, MRI data) that were collected as part of the NIBS study. See below on how to share this ‘associated’ physiological data.

Steps for uploading data

  1. Please check our terms of use, found here. These include requirements for uploading data, including that you are the owner of the data, and that it is fully de-identified.
  2. If you have non-NIBS physiological data collected as part of the experiment, such as structural/functional MRI, EEG, PET, etc., please first upload these to an existing repository (such as OpenNeuro or INDI). Then when you go to upload your NIBS data to our repository, you will be prompted to provide the link to that data under the ‘Link to associated data’ field. This way, this physiological data will be linked to your NIBS data record in Big NIBS data. It will be extremely valuable to perform analyses across these data sources, so depositing all data is highly encouraged!
  3. We are in the process of creating a template data structure to enable sharing and analysis*. This will serve as a guide for how to format your data before uploading to Big NIBS data. This is expected to be released in April 2025. You can still share your data if it is not in this format, however we will not have capacity to re-format your data for you. As mentioned above, include all variables in your spreadsheet that could be used as predictors for NIBS response (e.g., age, years since diagnosis, stimulation intensity, machine used, etc.). Some of this information, such as the population tested (e.g., major depression, healthy participants) will be inputted in metadata dropdown options on the repository submission page, but not all – so this information about your study should be included either in the spreadsheets or the metadata.
  4. Next, go here for instructions on how to provide the metadata and upload your data to the repository. We recommend having this open as you go through the process. You cannot edit your submission after upload (will need to be deleted and re-uploaded), so it’s important to follow the instructions.
  5. Submit your data to the repository.
  6. If you have any further questions, please check the Slack channel for the answer, or post a new question there. If you are ready, please click the share button below.

*If you would like to upload your data prior to the release of this template data structure, please contact us and we can send you a format privately.

What will happen to my data?

We will check that the data are virus free. If there are no issues, it will be shared to our public repository, available for download and analysis by other users.

Followed the above steps?

Take me to the repository