Call for Data Papers

There are thousands of papers published annually that develop new algorithms for image processing, reconstruction, and analysis. However, few of them provide a fair and direct comparison between a proposed algorithm and the competing state-of-the-art methods. A main reason is that raw datasets in the state-of-the-art papers are not publicly available. This is a vast waste of academic resources and a well-recognized obstacle to reproducible research. The idea of data papers is to publish raw datasets and associated algorithms for a specific purpose as a peer-reviewed paper for the biomedical imaging field at large. When the raw data are used to evaluate algorithms or techniques, the authors naturally cite the data paper to credit the original work. Data paper is a new feature of ISBI’14, which emphasizes data sharing and reproducible research. Some of the excellent data papers submitted to ISBI’14 will be recommended for publications to an open access journal (or a special issue of a well-respected traditional journal).

Each paper consists of two parts. The first part can be a regular 4-pages paper including a description of data, an associated method, results, and discussions. The second part is a raw data package.

Submissions are encouraged to follow the same schedule of the regular 4-pages papers. Relevant components may include but not limited to:

  • Paper title
  • Contact information
  • Abstract and keywords
  • Description of raw datasets with illustrations
  • Description of the data format
  • Methods or software to read
  • Applications and evaluation criteria
  • Representative results
  • References

When a data paper is submitted, the authors are suggested to apply for a free cloud storage service account (e.g. Google Drive, Dropbox, SkyDrive, etc) to hold the datasets. At the end of each manuscript, the authors should list the link to the location of the datasets. We are working on a unified solution at this moment to duplicate your datasets at a central location. If you have any questions/concerns, please contact the ISBI 2014 data paper Chair Dr. Hengyong Yu.