NIF — Neuroscience Information Framework
Overview
The Neuroscience Information Framework (NIF) is a US NIH-funded registry of neuroscience resources developed at UCSD under the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research. Its primary product is the RRID (Research Resource Identifier) system, which provides unique persistent identifiers for research resources including antibodies, cell lines, model organisms, software tools, databases, and service platforms, enabling unambiguous citation in Methods sections. RRIDs are mandated by hundreds of journals including Nature, Science, Cell, and eLife, and resolve to records in the SciCrunch Registry (https://scicrunch.org). NIF also maintains a curated list of recommended neuroscience data repositories (https://neuinfo.org/rin/suggested-data-repositories) organised by data type.
RRID Coverage
RRIDs are assigned across six resource categories:
- Antibodies carry identifiers in the format RRID:AB_xxxxxxx (from Antibody Registry).
- Cell lines carry identifiers in the format RRID:CVCL_xxxx (from Cellosaurus).
- Model organisms carry identifiers in the format RRID:IMSR_JAX:xxxxxx (mouse strains from JAX and other repositories).
- Software tools and databases carry identifiers in the format RRID:SCR_xxxxxx (from SciCrunch Registry).
- Service platforms and core facilities (e.g. imaging facilities, sequencing centres, biobanks) carry identifiers in the format RRID:SCR_xxxxxx, enabling citation of the specific facility or service used in a study.
Connections
- Produces: RRID system
Resources
- https://neuinfo.org
- https://scicrunch.org (SciCrunch resource registry — RRID resolver)
- https://neuinfo.org/rin/suggested-data-repositories (recommended repositories)
- https://www.rrids.org (RRID initiative)