Sharing Neurophysiology Data from the Allen Brain Observatory: Lessons Learned

TL;DR

This paper discusses the Allen Brain Observatory's efforts to openly share neurophysiology data, highlighting lessons learned, benefits, challenges, and potential improvements for data sharing in systems neuroscience.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive review of the Allen Brain Observatory's open data sharing practices and insights on overcoming barriers in neuroscience data dissemination.

Findings

Over 100 publications have utilized the shared data.

Open data sharing enhances reproducibility and scientific progress.

Remaining barriers include data standardization and accessibility issues.

Abstract

Making all data for any observation or experiment openly available is a defining feature of empirical science (e.g., nullius in verba, the motto of the Royal Society). It enhances transparency, reproducibility, and societal trust. While embraced in spirit by many, in practice open data sharing remains the exception in contemporary systems neuroscience. Here, we take stock of the Allen Brain Observatory, an effort to share data and metadata associated with surveys of neuronal activity in the visual system of laboratory mice. The data from these surveys have been used to produce new discoveries, to validate computational algorithms, and as a benchmark for comparison with other data, resulting in over 100 publications and preprints to date. We distill some of the lessons learned about open surveys and data reuse, including remaining barriers to data sharing and what might be done to address these.