Open and reproducible research in musculoskeletal imaging: Why it matters and how to implement it with the guidelines of the ORMIR community
The Open and Reproducible Musculoskeletal Imaging Research community is a scientific community dedicated to promoting openness and reproducibility in musculoskeletal imaging, image processing, and computational modeling. In this perspective paper, we outline the motivations for conducting transparent research and provide practical guidelines for implementing it. We start by defining open and reproducible research and describing the benefits and challenges of working transparently. Next, we redefine the outputs of a computational research study as-ideally-a combination of data, code, and a publication, recommend a folder and file structure that reflects these three study outcomes, and describe how to maintain and update such a structure during the study and at study publication. Finally, we emphasize that working in an open and reproducible manner is a learning process, and the best way to acquire the necessary competencies is simply to start.
Authors
- Danielle E. Whittier (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3602-551X)
- Donnie Cameron (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9841-6909)
- Cecilia Liberati (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0821-5757)
- Steven K. Boyd (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2930-5997)
- Matthias Walle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3250-8143)
- Mariska Wesseling (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3347-2130)
- Matt McCormick (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3916-9642)
- Seyedmahdi Hosseinitabatabaei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5638-976X)
- Giulia Fraterrigo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4934-902X)
- Jukka Hirvasniemi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9278-4719)
- Melissa S. A. M. Bevers
- Gianluigi Crimi
- Sarah L. Manske (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0888-9556)
- Andy Kin On Wong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8540-8854)
- Joeri Kok (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4997-2885)
- Enrico Schileo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3515-1231)
- Lorenzo Grassi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7824-9947)
- Fulvia Taddei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8342-7434)
- A. Burghardt
- Fabio Sarto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8572-5147)
- Mojtaba Barzegari (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1456-0610)
- Serena Bonaretti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4264-1773)
- Pholpat Durongbhan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5164-3482)
- Michael T. Kuczynski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5671-1205)
- Kathryn S. Stok (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0522-4180)
- Jilmen Quintiens (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2007-9329)
- Gianluca Iori
- Francesco Chiumento
- Simone Poncioni
- Sabine Räuber
- Alfonso Dario Santamaria
- Francesco Santini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6984-4816)
- Dženan Zukić
- Bettina M. Willie
- Maria Monzon
- Paul Ritsche
- Martino Pani
- Vincent Stadelmann
- YoungJun Lee
- Rachel Surowiec
- Ali Ghasem-Zadeh
- Jared Vicory
- Gerard Degenhart
Institutions
- Bern University of Applied Sciences (CH)
- Arthritis Foundation (US)
- Shriners Hospitals for Children - Erie (US)
- University of Padua (IT)
- Innsbruck Medical University (AT)
- Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- University of Calgary (CA)
- University of California, San Francisco (US)
- University of Basel (CH)
- Lund University (SE)
- Purdue University West Lafayette (US)
- Toronto Rehabilitation Institute (CA)
- Erasmus MC (NL)
- Shriners Hospitals for Children - Canada (CA)
- Paul Scherrer Institute (CH)
- University Medical Center (US)
- Radboud University Medical Center (NL)
- University of California System (US)
- Maastricht University (NL)
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- Biomechanics Institute of Valencia (ES)
- Schulthess-Klinik (CH)
- VieCuri Medisch Centrum (NL)
- Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli (IT)
- Alberta Bone and Joint Health Institute (CA)
- Public Health Ontario (CA)
- Department of Biomedicine Basel (CH)
- Weldon City Schools (US)
- Flint Institute Of Arts (US)
- Austin Health (AU)
- Dublin City University (IE)
- McGill University (CA)
- University of Portsmouth (GB)
- Victoria University (AU)
- Kitware (United States) (US)
- Eindhoven University of Technology (NL)
- KU Leuven (BE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- JBMR Plus
- Published
- 2026-02-17
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/jbmrpl/ziag025
- Primary Topic
- Scientific Computing and Data Management
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00