New TCIA Dataset

Requesting permission to publish a new dataset

TCIA is intended to be a resource to the research community. We aim to ensure that every new dataset added to the archive is one that would be of value to our target audiences. Researchers with the following objectives are encouraged to submit an application:

• Meeting the data sharing requirements set forth by an NCI grant or contract award
• Meeting the data sharing requirements set forth by a peer reviewed publication
• Sharing data that could stimulate discoveries in emerging areas of research (e.g. radiogenomics, immunotherapy)
• Sharing data as a reference collection for benchmarking and validating quantitative analysis techniques or algorithms in image processing

Applications are reviewed monthly by the TCIA Advisory Group based on the criteria above and the availability of resources. Note that for most accepted proposals there is no fee for sharing your data through TCIA.

Note: If you have utilized existing TCIA data and wish to publish your analyses you can find instructions for doing that here.

Starting the submission process

Once we have determined your data set is an appropriate fit for the archive we will initiate the submission process. You will be guided by a TCIA submission expert who will provide all the required tools for sending your data and will answer any questions you have throughout the process.  This process includes:

1. Install pre-configured Clinical Trials Processor (CTP) java software and use it to submit your data.
   1. CTP will perform an initial de-identification of the data according to DICOM standards (Attribute Confidentiality Profile – DICOM PS 3.15: Appendix E) before it leaves your institution.
   2. Our TCIA de-identification and curation process is documented in case there are any questions.
2. Our quality control and curation staff will work with you to ensure the data are fully de-identified and received. Additional reviews are performed and any remaining PHI are deleted if found.
3. TCIA will work with you to create a dataset summary page to inform users how your data might be of use to them.  Please review our guidance on auxiliary information we like to provide to the user community where available.
4. TCIA will publish the final data set and announce its addition via 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. Below is a list of data journals which recognize TCIA as a Recommended Repository. 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.

Track your data’s usage

After your dataset is available on TCIA you can view our Data Usage Statistics page to find out how often users search or download your data.  You can also use your dataset’s Digital Object Identifier (DOI) to track citations.