Reporting Checklists in Neuroimaging: Promoting Transparency, Replicability, and Reproducibility

Neuroimaging plays a crucial role in understanding brain structure and function. Nevertheless, the lack of transparency, reproducibility, and reliability of the findings is a significant obstacle for the field. To address these challenges, there is an ongoing effort to develop reporting checklists for neuroimaging studies to increase the likelihood that fundamental aspects of study design and execution are reported. In this review, we first define what we mean by a neuroimaging reporting checklist and then discuss how a reporting checklist can be developed and implemented. We consider the core values that should inform checklist design including transparency, repeatability, data sharing, diversity, and supporting innovations. We then share experiences with the currently available imaging modality-specific neuroimaging checklists. We review the motivation for creating checklists and whether checklists achieved the intended objectives. We propose a development cycle for neuroimaging reporting checklists and describe each implementation step. We emphasize the importance of reporting checklists in enhancing the quality of data repositories and consortia, how they can support education and best practices, and how emerging computational methods, like artificial intelligence, can strengthen checklist development and adherence. We also identify roles that funding agencies and global collaborations can play in supporting the adoption of neuroimaging reporting checklists. We hope this review will encourage better adherence to available checklists and promote the development of new ones. Ultimately, the aim of this effort is to increase the quality, transparency, and reproducibility of neuroimaging research.