•  Significance of Research Data 
•  Data Sharing Requirements 
•  Scope of Neuroscience Data Types 
•  Data Availability Statements 
•  Data Deposition Recommendation 

Significance of Research Data 

Research data refers to data generated through basic research, applied research, and experimental development to support the publication of academic papers, as well as raw data and derived data obtained through observation, inspection, investigation, and testing that are used to form figures/tables and support the conclusions of the paper.

Benefits of data sharing

• Enhances the visibility and impact of your research
• Facilitates verification and reproducibility of your findings
• Promotes collaboration and data reuse within the neuroscience community
• Provides you with an additional citable output
• Supports priority review, acceptance, and publication of your manuscript

Data Sharing Requirements 

Neuroscience Bulletin strongly encourages authors to share their research data to promote transparency, reproducibility, and collaboration in the neuroscience community. For studies involving neuroimaging data, electrophysiological data, single-cell omics data, large-scale behavioral experimental data, and neural circuit connectivity data, authors are highly recommended to deposit the raw data in a public data repository that adheres to the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). This ensures long-term preservation and maximizes the availability of your valuable research data to the scientific community for verification and reuse, while respecting participant confidentiality and ethical considerations.

Manuscripts that provide reliable, publicly accessible data will be given priority in the review and publication process.

Data submitted will be judged according to the following quality standards:

Ethical and Regulatory Compliance

• Human Data: Studies involving human subjects must include appropriate ethical approval statements and informed consent documentation. Data must be anonymized before deposition.
• Animal Data: Studies involving animals must include statements confirming compliance with institutional and national guidelines for animal care and use.
• Sensitive Data: Special categories of data may require additional documentation and access restrictions.

Scope of Neuroscience Data Types 

1. Neuroimaging Data

Includes: Structural MRI, functional MRI (fMRI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), PET, SPECT, and other molecular imaging data, as well as large-scale brain imaging cohort datasets.

Why Important:

• Neuroimaging data collection is costly and equipment-dependent
• Large-scale imaging datasets provide significant value for understanding brain patterns and brain health research
• Supports collaborative brain imaging analysis across studies

Recommended Formats: DICOM, NIfTI (.nii, .nii.gz), CIFTI

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2. Electrophysiological Data

Includes: Electroencephalography (EEG), magnetoencephalography (MEG), intracellular and extracellular recordings, local field potentials (LFP), optogenetics combined with electrophysiology, and neural activity imaging data (calcium imaging, neurotransmitter imaging, intracellular signaling).

Why Important:

• Electrophysiological data represent a core data type in neuroscience research
• Raw waveform data are essential for validating research conclusions
• Supports data comparison and method validation across laboratories

Recommended Formats: Neurodata Without Borders (.nwb), FieldTrip (.mat)

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3. Single-Cell Omics Data

Includes: Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), single-cell ATAC-seq, spatial transcriptomics, and related genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic data.

Why Important:

• Single-cell technologies represent the frontier of neuroscience
• Cell type atlases are crucial for understanding brain function
• Data integration enables the discovery of new cell subtypes and marker genes

Recommended Formats: FASTQ (.fastq), HDF5 (.h5, .h5ad), MTX (.mtx)

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4. Behavioral and Cognitive Data

Includes: Large-scale behavioral experimental data, cognitive task testing data, animal behavior tracking data, human psychometric data, and behavioral audio/video recordings.

Why Important:

• Behavioral data serve as the bridge between neural mechanisms and function
• Long-term behavioral tracking data have unique value
• Supports cross-study comparison of behavioral phenotypes

Recommended Formats: MP4, MOV, CSV (.csv), JSON (.json)

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5. Neural Circuit Connectivity Data

Includes: Neuronal morphology data, synaptic connection data, viral tracing data, functional connectivity data, and connectomics datasets.

Why Important:

• Neural circuits are central to understanding brain function
• Connectomics data are essential for constructing brain atlases
• Supports cross-species and cross-region comparison of connectivity patterns

Recommended Formats: HDF5 (.h5), CSV (.csv), Neurodata Without Borders (.nwb)

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6. Other High-Value Neuroscience Data

• Cross-modal integrated datasets
• Long-term longitudinal cohort data
• Rare disease or special case data
• Innovative experimental method validation data
• Computational neuroscience models and simulations
• Clinical neuroscience datasets (with appropriate ethical approvals)

Data Availability Statements 

Authors should include a Data Availability Statement in their manuscript.

Please select the appropriate template below:

Template 1: Data deposited in ScienceDB (Recommended)

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available in the Neuroscience Bulletin community of Science Data Bank (ScienceDB) at https://doi.org/10.57760/sciencedb.xxxxx (DOI) and https://cstr.cn/31253.11.sciencedb.xxxxx (CSTR).

Why we recommend ScienceDB:

• Free DOI and CSTR registration
• Long-term preservation by the Chinese Academy of Sciences
• Compliance with FAIR principles
• Dedicated Neuroscience Bulletin community：https://www.scidb.cn/c/j00221

Template 2: Data deposited in other public repositories

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available in [Repository Name] at [DOI/URL/Accession Number].

Examples of acceptable repositories: - General-purpose repositories: Figshare, Zenodo, Dryad, Harvard Dataverse - Neuroscience-specific repositories: OpenNeuro, NeuroVault, Brain-CODE, ABIDE - Genomics repositories: NCBI GEO, NCBI SRA, EBI ArrayExpress - Institutional repositories: Your institution’s data repository

Please ensure your chosen repository: - Provides a persistent identifier (DOI, accession number, etc.) - Follows FAIR data principles - Ensures long-term data preservation - Allows public access to the data

Template 3: Data with embargo period

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available in [Repository Name] at [DOI/URL]. The data will be openly accessible after [date] due to [reason, e.g., ongoing data collection/participant privacy protection].

Template 4: Restricted access data

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request due to [reason, e.g., ethical restrictions/privacy concerns]. The data are also deposited in [Repository Name] with restricted access at [DOI/URL].

Note: Even for restricted-access data, we strongly encourage depositing the data in a repository with access controls rather than relying solely on author-mediated sharing.

Template 5: No new data generated

No new data were generated or analyzed in this study.

Data Deposition Recommendation 

Recommended Repository: Science Data Bank

Data related to Neuroscience Bulletin submissions is highly recommended to deposit their raw data in the Neuroscience Bulletin Community on Science Data Bank (ScienceDB) prior to manuscript submission.

Why ScienceDB?

• Leading scientific data repository established and maintained by the Computer Network Information Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences
• Free DOI registration for persistent identification - CSTR (China Science and Technology Resource) identifier compliant with national standards (GB/T 32843-2016)
• Long-term preservation and secure storage
• Flexible access control supporting open access, embargo periods, and restricted access modes

ScienceDB Community URL

Neuroscience Bulletin Community: https://www.scidb.cn/c/j00221

For Details on Science DB Data Submission Guidelines, please refer to:

https://www.scidb.cn/en/help?p=publishing_process