The Canadian Open Neuroscience Platform-An open science framework for the neuroscience community

PLoS Comput Biol. 2023 Jul 27;19(7):e1011230. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011230. eCollection 2023 Jul.

Abstract

The Canadian Open Neuroscience Platform (CONP) takes a multifaceted approach to enabling open neuroscience, aiming to make research, data, and tools accessible to everyone, with the ultimate objective of accelerating discovery. Its core infrastructure is the CONP Portal, a repository with a decentralized design, where datasets and analysis tools across disparate platforms can be browsed, searched, accessed, and shared in accordance with FAIR principles. Another key piece of CONP infrastructure is NeuroLibre, a preprint server capable of creating and hosting executable and fully reproducible scientific publications that embed text, figures, and code. As part of its holistic approach, the CONP has also constructed frameworks and guidance for ethics and data governance, provided support and developed resources to help train the next generation of neuroscientists, and has fostered and grown an engaged community through outreach and communications. In this manuscript, we provide a high-level overview of this multipronged platform and its vision of lowering the barriers to the practice of open neuroscience and yielding the associated benefits for both individual researchers and the wider community.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Canada
  • Communication
  • Neurosciences*
  • Publications

Grants and funding

The CONP receives funding from a Brain Canada Platform Support Grant Competition Award in addition to funds and in-kind support from sponsor organizations. These include Irving Ludmer Family Foundation, McGill / MNI Tanenbaum Open Science Institute, Fonds de Recherche du Québec, Ontario Brain Institute/Rotman Research Institute, École Polytechnique, Institut de Cardiologie de Montréal, Western University, McLaughlin Centre / University of Toronto, Université Laval, University of Calgary, Douglas Hospital Research Foundation, Human Brain Project, University of British Columbia, Concordia University, Dell/EMC, IBM, Compute Canada and Québec Bio-Imaging Network. The servers powering NeuroLibre are a generous donation from Cancer Computer. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.