Data Access & Publication Requests

The CENTER-TBI database contains prospectively collected data of more than 4,500 patients with TBI in Europe. The Registry and Acute Care data has been collected during a 3 years’ period (2015-2017) in 65 centers in Europe. For all patients, outcome data has been collected up to 2 years after injury.

The CENTER-TBI investigators welcome all forms of collaboration and data sharing. Interested scientists may obtain access to the CENTER-TBI clinical, imaging, high resolution ICU and biomarker data for the purposes of scientific investigation, teaching or planning clinical research studies. Obtaining access to and using CENTER-TBI data requires adherence to the CENTER-TBI Data Use Agreement and harmonized procedures for the data access requests as outlined in the documents listed below.

The application process includes submission of an online application form. The application must include the investigator’s institutional affiliation and the proposed uses of the CENTER-TBI data. CENTER-TBI data may not be used for commercial products or redistributed in any way.

The CENTER-TBI database is accessible through 2 platforms: Neurobot and Mica/Opal.

Access will be granted after approval of a Study Plan proposal, submitted through the online system (see below).

Neurobot:
Neurobot is a data access tool developed by INCF in close collaboration with the CENTER-TBI Data Curation Task Force. It meets the needs of CENTER-TBI researchers to easily find the study variables and export them for further analysis. In addition to the Clinical data, the associated imaging and ICU data, biomarkers and outcome data are available through Neurobot. Links are provided to large data files such as imaging and high resolution ICU data, and they are combined with the clinical data of the individual patients based on the Global Unique Personal Identifier (GUPI).

The downloaded data from Neurobot in csv format works best with Microsoft Office and Google Spreadsheet. Problems may occur when using Libre Office.

Mica/Opal:
Mica and Opal are part of the Obiba open source software suite.

Mica is an online data portal that includes the study catalogue and a searchable variable dictionary giving insight into the CENTER-TBI dataset. It also provides additional information on the study goals, design and participants.

Opal is the data warehouse where you can view your dataset and export & download the data, or connect your R session to the Opal API. Because of its integration with R, complex statistical analysis and reports can be performed within Opal as well.

External researchers applying for access to the CENTER-TBI dataset, should follow the following work flow:

• Check available variables in MICA
• Submit a study proposal with, in attachment, the zip file with variables you request from MICA (see also the MICA user manual: Chapter “Data access and shopping cart”)

To submit your data access request or publication request, use one of the relevant forms:

• Study Plan Proposal
• Publication Submission Approval