Proposed reporting standards for future studies applying multivariate classification techniques to fMRI data with a diagnostic intention in addition to general reporting standards in fMRI research
| Proposed Reporting Standards | Desirable Aspects of Study Design |
|---|---|
| Report of overall classification accuracies/generalization rate (in addition to sensitivity and specificity if applicable) | Sufficiently large, equally sized groups (25 subjects per group desirable, but depending on specific methodologies used and power analyses) |
| Rigorous statistical tests | Sufficiently long scan duration for resting state fMRI (at least 5 minutes, evaluation of a potential benefit of longer acquisitions desirable) |
| Report of all tested models (not only optimized/best models) | Systematic model optimization |
| Clearly identify inferential tests and explorative analyses | Well-chosen and well-defined clinical problem |
| Clearly identify feature extraction and feature selection/weighting strategies | Multisite/multiscanner studies |
| Denominate origin of classification algorithms if an independent toolbox is used for pipeline building | Evaluation of functionally/anatomically interpretable classifiers and methods with individual reliability measures |
| Good clinical characterization of the sample including demographic data (psychometric data if applicable) | Independent validation set |