Overview
The Scholarly Culture and Accountability Plan (SCAP) at the Brain Imaging and Analysis Center (BIAC) is designed to enhance and protect our mission in scientific innovation and translation. We build a conducive environment for state-of-the-art imaging research while ensuring full accountability in scientific conduct, professional ethics, and data security.
We require all faculty and staff to adopt industry best practices in every phase of scientific investigation.
Scientific Governance and Education
Project Review and Pipeline Integration
All faculty research projects undergo a structured review and onboarding process:
- Peer Review: Proposals are reviewed for scientific merit, feasibility, and conduct by the BIAC Scientific Review Committee.
- Pipeline Onboarding: Approved projects enter a centrally managed research pipeline that integrates credentials, access, training, funding, and data flow.
Policy Access: All related research policies and procedures are published on our website for investigator reference.
Educational Programs
BIAC features a unique post-baccalaureate fellowship program that trains research assistants in:
- Data acquisition procedures
- Image analysis techniques
Professional and scientific ethics
Data Accountability, Tracking, and Integrity
Automated Data Pipeline
Our electronic pipeline ensures data authenticity from creation through long-term storage:
- Digital Fingerprinting: Every dataset receives a digital fingerprint at entry points to demonstrate integrity during creation and modification.
- Automated Transfer: Data acquired at our scanners is transferred via automatic computer daemons—without manual user intervention—to ensure step-by-step integrity.
- Secure Infrastructure: We host a central data processing and storage facility housing ~250 TB of active online data at the Fitzpatrick Data Center.
Traceable Audit Trails: Data is tracked across origin, transfer, analysis, and archive systems to guarantee compliance and authenticity.
Processing Flexibility and Support
- Custom Analysis Menu: Users can select from a wide menu of processing and analysis strategies.
- Technical Implementation: When testing or validating new tools, BIAC central technical staff assist with implementing and enabling them within the automatic pipeline.
- User Access: Our data tracking and management system is accessible to authorized users via password-protected web access.
Compliance Requirement
Best practices in data acquisition
- Complete all necessary training and approval for acquiring data at BIAC
- Design sound experimental plan with scientific merit review by the BIAC review committee
- Eliminate all possible bias (including subject selection) in experimental procedures
Best practices in data analysis
- Adopt BIAC approved or peer-published analysis procedures
- Carry out rigorous statistical analysis with consultation from biostatistics experts
- Characterize in full detail all relevant experimental effects
- Ensure replicability of experimental findings
- Report objective procedures for data attrition or subject exclusion
Best practices in publication
- Report all the details on experimental design and data analysis, with the general rule that an independent group should be able to replicate the same findings if the same procedure is followed
- Avoid exaggeration of the significance of the results
- Obtain approval from all co-authors and confirm their contributions to the manuscript
Reporting on misconduct
All faculty and staff can bring concerns to the attention of the Director’s office in confidence, without fear of retaliation or retribution. Staff should also be aware of the Duke Health Integrity Hotline (1-800-826-8109 or web report) to report concerns anonymously.
Attestation
Please attest to the BIAC SCAP at this link.