Reporting checklists in neuroimaging: promoting transparency, replicability, and reproducibility

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Medical Imaging
• Research Methodology

Background:

• Neuroimaging research faces challenges with transparency, reproducibility, and reliability.
• Reporting checklists are being developed to standardize study design and execution reporting.

Purpose of the Study:

• To define neuroimaging reporting checklists and discuss their development and implementation.
• To review existing checklists, their effectiveness, and propose a development cycle.
• To highlight the role of checklists in improving data quality, education, and leveraging AI.

Main Methods:

• Review of current neuroimaging reporting checklists and their motivations.
• Discussion of core values for checklist design: transparency, repeatability, data sharing, diversity, innovation.
• Proposal of a development cycle and implementation steps for new checklists.

Main Results:

• Neuroimaging reporting checklists are essential for improving research quality.
• Checklists enhance data repositories, support education, and can be aided by AI.
• Funding agencies and global collaborations are key to adoption.

Conclusions:

• Adherence to and development of neuroimaging reporting checklists are crucial.
• Checklists will ultimately increase the quality, transparency, and reproducibility of neuroimaging research.
• Standardized reporting is vital for advancing brain science.