Resource track

Scope

This MELBA Resource track is dedicated to resources that can facilitate i) reproducible research within the field of biomedical imaging, and ii) fair benchmarking of machine learning algorithms.

MELBA Resource publications are manuscripts that systematically describe publicly available resources, such as i) research datasets (i.e., Data Resource), and ii) open-source software tools (i.e., Tool Resource), that reside at the intersection of biomedical imaging and machine learning.

The aim of MELBA Resource manuscripts is to enhance the sharing and reuse of resources, encourage their broader dissemination and repurposing, as well as acknowledge those who contribute by sharing.

Format of MELBA Resource manuscripts

Manuscripts submitted for consideration to the MELBA Resource track should adhere to the following structure:

MELBA Resource vs Other Publications

MELBA Resource publications are intended to supplement conventional research publications. The release of MELBA Resource manuscripts will not be regarded as diminishing the originality of subsequent MELBA manuscript submissions. Authors are encouraged to consult with editors from other journals to ensure that the publication of a MELBA Resource does not compromise the submission of related research manuscripts to those journals.

Authors may also submit a MELBA Resource manuscript detailing data/tools previously made publicly available or analyzed in prior research manuscripts, provided there is no existing publication specifically describing the resource. In case of an existing publication, a new publication might be submitted only if it significantly enhances the resource's reuse potential or presents a substantial extension of the previously published resource. By releasing the described shared resource, authors automatically confirm their full responsibility for sharing it.

Any pre-existing publication, or manuscript under consideration or in press at any journal, relevant to the MELBA Resource manuscript must be mentioned and explicitly cited in the submitted manuscript, as well as discussed in the accompanying cover letter.

Submission Considerations

A MELBA Resource submission consists of the manuscript following the format described above, and a structured cover letter with statements that must be included in every submission.

Authors submitting a MELBA Resource manuscript are required to deposit their data/tools in a suitable external public repository to ensure the discoverability, utility, reproducibility, and reusability of the resource (see example Public Repositories below). Sole use of a personal or institutional website is not considered adequate. Authors should furnish their materials at a level that facilitates broad utility, encompassing both computed, or curated data, and observed (source) data. For clarity, by ‘observed (source) data’ we refer to observations generated at the source, i.e., a health system. By ‘computed data’ we refer to derivatives of observed data, generated following some computation, e.g., texture features. By ‘curated data’ we refer to observed data that have undergone some curation, for example, co-registered MRI of brain scans.

Should the resource not be publicly accessible at the time of submitting a MELBA Resource manuscript, authors are required to furnish secure links and/or passcodes to access the resource. This allows the editorial team and reviewers to confidentially access and assess the data. Authors are advised against providing personal login details and are not allowed to track individual logins that would compromise the anonymous reviewer evaluation. The editorial team and reviewers commit to treating the manuscript and its associated data/tools with strict confidentiality, utilizing them solely for the purpose of manuscript evaluation prior to publication.

In the event that the data/tools are not accessible at the original repository, authors are obligated to upload the data to another repository and issue an update to the original MELBA Resource manuscript. If the authors fail to respond accordingly, the editorial team reserves the right to retract the publication.

MELBA maintains the right to retract a Resource manuscript post-acceptance if significant issues with the scientific content or violations of our publishing policies emerge.

Public Repositories

The MELBA Resource manuscripts (both Data Resource and Tool Resource) should always be accompanied by a reference to a repository of the described data/tools to enable their long-term preservation and public access (even if this requires a data use agreement), without paywalls, and support open licenses (such as CC-BY, CC-BY-NC, Apache v2, MIT). Specifically for Tool Resource manuscripts, support for versioning and the library dependencies should also be considered. Example repositories are: