North America
North America has been a major source of open neuroscience data infrastructure, large-scale open datasets, and funding programmes that have driven open data sharing in the field. Canada has developed a distinct open neuroscience infrastructure centred on federated data sharing and open science institutional policy.
United States
Funding and Policy
The NIH Open Science Policy (NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy, effective 2023) requires all NIH-funded researchers to submit a data management and sharing plan and to deposit scientific data in an accessible repository. The NIH Public Access Policy additionally requires open access to all NIH-funded publications, with immediate open access mandated for new awards from December 2025. The NIH BRAIN Initiative, launched in 2013, is a major driver of open neuroscience data infrastructure in the US, funding DANDI Archive, mandating NWB for electrophysiology data, and supporting the development of BIDS.
Key Data Platforms
OpenNeuro (Stanford) is an open repository for human neuroimaging data in BIDS format. DANDI Archive is the repository for NWB-formatted neurophysiology data. NeMO Archive hosts single-cell and spatial genomics data from BICAN and related consortia. NeuroMorpho.Org (George Mason University) is the primary open archive for digitally reconstructed neuron and glia morphologies, with over 180,000 reconstructions as of 2024. Synapse AMP-AD (Sage Bionetworks) is the central open data platform for Alzheimer’s and psychiatric disorder multiomics. dbGaP handles controlled-access human genomics data. NeuroVault hosts statistical brain maps and atlases.
Key Institutes and Consortia
The Allen Institute for Brain Science produces landmark open datasets including the Allen Brain Atlas, Cell Types Database, and MindScope Neuropixels datasets, all deposited in DANDI Archive. BICAN (BRAIN Initiative Cell Atlas Network) is building a comprehensive multi-resolution mammalian brain cell atlas, with data in NeMO Archive and CELLxGENE. ADNI (Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative) is a foundational open longitudinal neuroimaging and biomarker cohort. Mount Sinai Neuroscience leads the CommonMind Consortium and PsychENCODE brain genomics programmes. The IBL (International Brain Laboratory) is an international consortium producing open large-scale electrophysiology data in NWB format. NIH BRAIN Initiative also funded the Human Connectome Project, which produced landmark open MRI datasets and developed the CIFTI format.
Canada
Canada’s open neuroscience ecosystem is anchored by two complementary initiatives. CONP (Canadian Open Neuroscience Platform) is the national federated data portal aggregating datasets from Canadian and international sources in BIDS format. TOSI (The Neuro Open Science in Action) at the Montreal Neurological Institute is the institutional model for open science adoption, operating C-BIG and LORIS and running a Canadian Open Science Alliance of institutes that have adopted its principles. Ontario Brain Institute operates Brain-CODE, a large-scale neuroinformatics platform, and is a founding sponsor of CONP.