Publications & Data Releases #

Once you finish processing your datasets and producing your data derivatives, you can publish them directly from Brainlife. Publishing creates a permanent, citable public record of your datasets and group analyses, assigned with a unique Digital Object Identifier (DOI).

Publication records are preserved for at least ten years and backed by long-term storage, including the Indiana University Scholarly Data Archive tape archive. Brainlife automatically generates schema.org metadata to maximize discovery, search indexing, and adherence to FAIR data principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable).

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Key Features of Brainlife Publications #

Every publication created on Brainlife includes:

• Permanent URL & Unique DOI: Issued via DataCite, redirecting permanently to your publication page (https://brainlife.io/pubs/<slug-or-id>).
• Versioned Releases: A publication can contain multiple sequential releases (e.g., Release 1, Release 2), allowing you to publish new datasets, additional subjects, or updated derivative pipelines over time without losing historical provenance.
• One-Click Citation: A pre-formatted citation box with instant BibTeX and text export to make citing your dataset seamless for other researchers.
• Interactive Data Explorer & Visualizers: Visitors can browse the dataset hierarchy, inspect file trees, and view 2D/3D visualizations directly in the browser before downloading.
• Open Access with Agreement Protection: Public datasets can be browsed and downloaded by anyone without requiring a login, unless your project specifies a Data Access Agreement (in which case users must register and agree to your terms prior to downloading).

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Creating a Publication #

To create a new publication from your project:

1. Open your project on Brainlife.
2. Select the Publications tab from the project navigation bar.
3. Click the New Publication button at the top of the page.

The New Publication Form #

Fill in the core metadata for your publication:

Field	Description	Required
Name	A clear, informative title for the publication or dataset.	Yes
Description	An abstract summarizing the study, participant demographics, imaging modalities, and intended use cases.	Yes
License	The data access and re-use license (defaults to CC-BY 4.0).	Yes
Authors	Ordered list of primary authors with institutional affiliations. Select registered Brainlife users or add names.	Yes (at least one)
Contributors	Additional team members, curators, or contributors who assisted with the data collection or processing.	No
Funding Sources	Grant awards and funding agencies (provide Funder name and Award/Grant ID).	No
Tags	Keywords indicating imaging modalities, disorders, or study techniques (e.g., fMRI, Diffusion, Connectome).	No
Ontology Topics	Standardized scientific topics from biomedical ontologies to optimize discoverability.	No
ReadMe	Detailed study documentation written in Markdown (e.g., scan parameters, cohort exclusion criteria, code references).	No

Confirmation & DOI Generation #

When you submit the form, a confirmation modal will outline the creation details:

• A new DOI is requested and registered with DataCite.
• Your publication record is created, and you are automatically redirected to the publication editor where you can associate specific datasets into Releases.

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Managing Publications: The Editor #

Once created, project administrators and members can edit the publication by clicking Edit Publication. The editor is organized into four main sections:

1. Publication (Details & Credits) #

Update any of your initial metadata fields at any time, including title, abstract, authors, contributors, grant numbers, license, tags, and the ReadMe documentation.

2. Appearance #

Customize the public presentation of your publication:

• Custom URL Slug: Define a clean, memorable URL slug (e.g., https://brainlife.io/pubs/my-study-2026).
• Banner Image: Upload or select a custom hero banner image for the publication header.

3. Groups (People, Data & Media) #

For large-scale, multi-institutional, or multi-modal publications, you can organize your study into Groups. Each group can have dedicated sub-panels for:

• Overview: Group-specific descriptions and focus areas.
• People: Sub-teams or working groups responsible for specific components.
• Data: Modality-specific datasets associated with the group.
• Media: Showcase figures, screenshots, and visual assets.

4. Releases (Published Data Snapshots) #

The Releases tab is where you link actual project data to your publication:

1. Click Add new release to create a version (e.g., Release 1).
2. Provide a Release Name and Description detailing what data is included in this snapshot.
3. Under Data Objects, click Add Data Object to select which archived datasets and datatypes from your project should be included in this release.
4. Under Group Analyses, attach any multi-subject group analysis archives (gaarchives) produced in your project.
5. As your study progresses, you can add subsequent releases (Release 2, Release 3) to share newly acquired sessions or updated derivative pipelines.

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The Public Publication Page #

Visitors accessing your publication via its direct URL or DOI will see a comprehensive, modern study portal:

• Header & DOI: Displays study title, authors, custom banner, and a persistent badge linking directly to the DataCite DOI.
• Citations Card: Formats the publication citation automatically and provides quick buttons to copy the plain text citation or BibTeX snippet.
• ReadMe Card: Renders your full Markdown documentation, protocols, and references.
• Releases Explorer:
  • Displays each release in an expandable accordion.
  • Lists included datatypes, subjects, and sessions.
  • Features an interactive File Tree Browser allowing visitors to inspect file hierarchies within archived data objects.
  • Includes integrated Visualizations, enabling users to open 2D/3D interactive visualizers directly from the browser before downloading.
• Download Data: Visitors can download individual files or entire datasets. If the project requires data access agreements, visitors will be prompted to log in and sign the required agreement before files can be retrieved.

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Discoverability: Global Research Hub #

All published datasets on Brainlife are indexed on the global Research / Publications directory (https://brainlife.io/pubs). Researchers worldwide can discover your work by searching:

• Study names and author names
• Specific imaging modalities and datatypes (e.g., T1w, DWI, MEG, fMRI)
• Keywords, diseases, and ontology topics
• Associated project licenses