NMIND: A Proposed New Initiative to Advance Reproducible Research

Researchers aim to unite the neuroscience field behind high quality and transparently benchmarked software.

New York, NY – In recent years, research in the neuroimaging field has grown in both scale and complexity. And yet scientists have been frustrated to discover that the robust and validated tools they need aren’t easily accessible. This hinders the ability to reproduce crucial findings and could be a detriment to the neuroscience community.

Researchers at the Child Mind Institute, in a new article first published in Nature, have proposed a way to improve the reproducibility of research and increase accessibility to valuable tools. The NMIND consortium includes a tool marketplace that allows researchers to explore and compare data libraries. Its goal is to establish common standards for code quality, testing, documentation, terminology, and dissemination of software tools across the scientific community. The team hopes to increase engagement through hackathons and events meant to train junior researchers in best practices of software development. Additionally, they plan to collaborate with large-scale data generation and informatics initiatives, such as INCF, ReproNim, the NIH ABCD, and HBCD Studies.

“This work will improve accountability, transparency, reproducibility, and efficiency in brain imaging research,” says Greg Kiar, PhD, first author and research scientist at the Child Mind Institute. “We believe that the initial success of NMIND requires community buy-in, a key demonstration of value, and the formalization of a governance structure. Looking forward, a collaborative model such as NMIND will be essential for the field to take the next major step in its evolution towards a science capable of delivering critically needed theoretical advancement and clinical deliverables.”

This work was supported by a grant from NIMH (1RF1MH130859-01).

To read the full article in Nature, click here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-023-01647-0

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Kiar, G., Clucas, J., Feczko, E. et al. Align with the NMIND consortium for better neuroimaging. Nat Hum Behav (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01647-0