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Providing Study Details

Once you have completed the initial tasks necessary to submit data, your next step is to provide us with the study and methods descriptions used for your data generation, as well as an acknowledgement statement.


A key data organizing unit in the portal is the Study. Associated with a Study is:

  • a description of the cohort or model system the data has or will be generated from

  • summaries of the methods used to generate the data (think about this as the similar type of information you would write for a well written Materials and Methods section in a paper)

  • the data itself

  • associated metadata

  • an acknowledgment statement that users of the data will be requested to put in manuscripts and presentations

Data generated through a grant may be grouped into one or multiple studies. The AD-DCC will work with you to determine if data from your grant should be grouped into one or multiple studies based on the information in the data contribution survey. Templates are provided for study and methods documentation (see below).

Creating the study description

Use this template as a guide to provide a summary of the cohort or model system your data comes from. For instructions on how to access and use this template, see below.

Here are a couple of tips for the study name and description:

  • Study Name(s): This should be a short descriptive sentence plus an abbreviation. The abbreviated name will be used to annotate all content belonging to a specific study.

  • Study description(s): This should be a summary describing the human cohort(s) or model system(s) the data comes from. Add links or references for additional information if available.

Creating the methods description

Use this template to describe the methods used to generate data in your study. For instructions on how to access and use this template, see below.

For each assay, or assessment, provide a summary of:

  • sample processing

  • data generation

  • data processing, including which organs and tissues the samples came from.

For other tests (such as cognitive assessments or imaging), include a description of how the test was done.

Add links or references for additional information wherever available. Include links to any commercial equipment or tools, or code repositories. Detailed protocols are highly recommended. These can be uploaded as pdf together with the data-files, or as links to protocol repositories such as http://protocols.io or Open Lab Notebooks.

Creating the acknowledgement statement

Use this template to create a statement for people to use when citing the data in your study. For instructions on how to access and use this template, see below.

How to use templates

As linked above, the templates are available through these links:

To download and save your own copy, follow these steps:

  1. On the template page, click the Download Options dropdown, then Download File.

  2. Open the file, and fill it out using the guidance provided.

  3. Save the file using the file naming convention described in the template

  4. Submit the documents using the Documentation Submission Form

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