In addition to publishing new TCIA datasets we encourage the community to publish analyses derived from existing TCIA datasets. Examples (see previously published analysis datasets) include image labels, annotations, organ/tumor segmentations, and radiomic/pathomic features.
Submitting a request to publish analysis results
Requests to publish analysis results on TCIA can be submitted by filling out this application form. Proposals will be reviewed with the following criteria in mind:
- How important is this data set to facilitating research reproducibility in this topic area?
- Does this dataset address a data gap for critical current research for a clinical need?
- Is this a novel/unique dataset compared to what’s already in TCIA?
- Is the dataset of a sufficient size/scale and demographic distribution to support scientific conclusions or hypothesis development?
- Does the dataset contain sufficient supporting data and documentation?
- Is the analysis based on a biological hypothesis or other proposed discovery about the patho-physiological basis of cancer?
- What is the biological relevance of segmentations/annotations/features?
- What scientific criteria were used to determine the methodology of image analysis?
Applications are reviewed quarterly by the TCIA Advisory Group to assess their utility to the TCIA user community. The Advisory Group is composed of staff from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) who are experts in cancer imaging, informatics and related technologies. The current membership includes:
- Janet Eary, Associate Director, NCI Cancer Imaging Program
- Lalitha Shankar, Branch Chief, NCI Cancer Imaging Program
- Irina A. Lubensky, Chief, NCI Cancer Diagnosis Program
- Krishnan Patel, Assistant Research Physician, Radiation Oncology Branch, Center for Cancer Research
If approved, submitting sites must sign our non-negotiable TCIA Data Submission Agreement before data collection is initiated. No modifications to this agreement will be accepted. Please also verify your institution has read our Data Usage Policies and Restrictions page and understands the licensing options we offer. We no longer allow licenses that prevent commercial use.
Request to Publish Analysis Results on TCIA
Submission process overview
Once we have determined your data set is an appropriate fit for the archive we will initiate the submission process. A TCIA submission team will be assigned to provide all the required tools and guidance for sending your data. The major steps for publishing Analysis Results are as follows:
- We will provide you with submission instructions and software tailored to your dataset.
- If the images that you analyzed are in DICOM format, we highly recommend any image-derived data (such as annotations and image analysis results) are also published in DICOM format. Conversion to DICOM SEG from NIfTI or NRRD formats can be done using publicly available, open-source tools (https://github.com/QIICR/dcmqi). We are able to provide conversion assistance if you have any questions while using this tool. Providing your analyses in DICOM format has the following benefits:
- Using DICOM enables you to include key metadata (e.g. orientation, relationship to original image UIDs) which reduces variability and inconsistencies during downstream usage of data.
- DICOM allows your data to be searchable on the TCIA Radiology Portal and through our API, making it more accessible and easier to find.
- DICOM datasets become available on NCI Imaging Data Commons, a publicly available cloud-based resource, providing greater visibility of your work.
- Popular open-source tools such as 3D Slicer and OHIF viewer (Open Health Imaging Foundation) support DICOM for annotations and segmentations.
- We will review your submitted data to ensure the data are fully de-identified and the content of the data aligns with your submission proposal. TCIA reserves the right to not publish a dataset if the submitter does not provide all data described in their proposal form.
- We will work with you to create a dataset summary page to inform users how your data might be of use to them.
- We will publish the final data set, provide you with a data citation and digital object identifier (DOI), and announce its availability on our mailing list and social media channels.
Getting credit for data sharing
New journals dedicated to describing data sets are beginning to gain in popularity. These can be used to publish detailed descriptions of your TCIA data to gain academic credit (publication/citations) for your efforts in addition to the novel scientific findings you might publish in traditional journals. Below is a list of data journals which recognize TCIA as a Recommended Repository.