title: Scanning the horizon: towards transparent and reproducible neuroimaging research.
abstract: Functional neuroimaging techniques have transformed our ability to probe the neurobiological basis of behaviour and are increasingly being applied by the wider neuroscience community. However, concerns have recently been raised that the conclusions that are drawn from some human neuroimaging studies are either spurious or not generalizable. Problems such as low statistical power, flexibility in data analysis, software errors and a lack of direct replication apply to many fields, but perhaps particularly to functional MRI. Here, we discuss these problems, outline current and suggested best practices, and describe how we think the field should evolve to produce the most meaningful and reliable answers to neuroscientific questions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Stanford Center for Reproducible Neuroscience, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Russell A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Poldrack
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, US National Institutes of Health, Maryland 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Chris I
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Stanford Center for Reproducible Neuroscience, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.|Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA) Parietal, Neurospin, Building 145, CEA Saclay, 91191 Gif sur Yvette, France.
authors.forename: Joke
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Durnez
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Stanford Center for Reproducible Neuroscience, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Krzysztof J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Gorgolewski
authors.affiliation: Division of Brain Sciences, Department of Medicine, Imperial College Hammersmith Hospital, London W12 0NN, UK.
authors.forename: Paul M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Matthews
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1BN, UK.|UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TU, UK.
authors.forename: Marcus R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Munafò
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics and WMG, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.
authors.forename: Thomas E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Nichols
authors.affiliation: Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, Henry H. Wheeler Jr. Brain Imaging Center, University of California, 132 Barker Hall 210S, Berkeley, California 94720-3192, USA.
authors.forename: Jean-Baptiste
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Poline
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, California 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vul
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
authors.forename: Tal
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yarkoni
mesh_terms: D059907:Functional Neuroimaging / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012984:Software / Q000592:standards; D013223:Statistics as Topic