Resources: Public Data Repositories

Through SFARI Base, SFARI accepts, stores and distributes data from designated SFARI-supported cohorts, including SPARK, the Simons Simplex Collection (SSC), Simons Searchlight, the Autism Inpatient Collection (AIC) and Autism BrainNet (ABN). SFARI Base also houses data collected through Research Match initiatives associated with these cohorts.

At this time, other (non-cohort) data generated through SFARI-funded grants or other external funding sources cannot be submitted to SFARI Base for distribution. Investigators seeking to share such datasets should instead deposit them in an appropriate public data repository to ensure long-term accessibility, reproducibility and compliance with open science principles.

Below is a list of public data repositories relevant to SFARI’s scientific focus, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), neurodevelopmental conditions, genomics, transcriptomics, neuroimaging and behavioral science. This list is not exhaustive, and we welcome suggestions of additional public data repositories to add.

Genomic, epigenomic and transcriptomic data

• NIH dbGaP (Database of Genotypes and Phenotypes) — for controlled-access human genetic and phenotypic data
• NIH SRA (Sequence Read Archive)
• GEO (Gene Expression Omnibus) — for microarray, bulk and single-cell RNA-seq, and other high-throughput functional genomic data
• ArrayExpress (via EMBL-EBI) — an alternative to GEO for transcriptomics and functional genomics data

Neuroimaging data

• OpenNeuro — public repository for MRI, EEG, MEG and iEEG data formatted according to BIDS standards
• NITRC (Neuroimaging Informatics Tools and Resources Clearinghouse) — for hosting and sharing imaging data and tools, including pipelines and atlases

Neurophysiology data

• DANDI — for electrophysiology, optophysiology and behavioral time-series, as well as images from immunostaining experiments

Behavioral, clinical and cognitive data

• NIH Data Archive (NDA) — formerly the NIMH Data Archive, the NDA accepts a wide variety of behavioral, cognitive and clinical research data, and is strongly suited for ASD and developmental neuroscience research
• National Sleep Research Resource (NSRR)

Proteomics and metabolomics

• PRIDE (Proteomics IDEntifications Database) — for sharing mass spectrometry-based proteomics data
• MetaboLights — a repository for metabolomics data and metadata

Generalist repositories (for data not fitting a specialized domain)

• Dryad — curated general-purpose repository for data underlying publications
• Zenodo — supports a broad range of data types and provides DOI assignment
• OSF (Open Science Framework) — general-purpose repository supporting a wide range of research outputs, including datasets, preprints and supplementary materials, with project management tools and DOI assignment

For further guidance on choosing a repository, PLOS ONE maintains a curated list of repositories by data type.