[Announcement] Neurophotonics Special Issue on public datasets and fNIRS Open Dataset Contest 2026
Qianqian Fang
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Dear colleagues,
On behalf of the SfNIRS Standardization & Open Science Committee, I would like to invite you to participate in the first fNIRS Open Dataset Contest (2026).
Please find the details of this dataset contest in this URL:
To enter this contest, please fill out this brief registration form:
https://neurojson.org/wiki/index.cgi?register/fNIRS_Open_Dataset_Contest
The submission window is open immediately, and will close on Sep 1, 2026, with the winning submissions announced in Oct 2026 during the SfNIRS 2026 conference in Macau, China.
The submissions will be evaluated by a panel of experts as well as votes from community members. The top three contributions will receive awards, with the first prize of up to $2,000 USD, the second prize of $1,000 USD, and the third prize of $500 USD (thanks to NIRx, Cortivision and Seenel Imaging for sponsoring this event!)
We also strongly encourage all dataset authors to consider submitting a Data Paper to the Special Issue of Neurophotonics entitled "fNIRS Commons: Datasets and Tools for Open, Reproducible Science", which I am co-guest-editing with Drs. Meryem Yücel (BU), Alex von Lühmann (TU Berlin, Germany), and Adam Eggebrecht (WashU St. Louis). This special issue aims to promote best practices in open science in fNIRS research, with a specific focus on enhancing fNIRS public datasets and open-source data analysis tools. I also want to highlight that all Data Paper in this special issue are free of publication charge (thanks to SPIE!). The deadline for submitting papers to this special issue is March 31, 2026.
As the PI of the NIH-funded NeuroJSON project (https://neurojson.io), I am also excited to let you know that the NeuroJSON project will dedicate our resources in supporting both the Data Contest and the datasets submitted for the Special Issue. As a project specifically focused on curating and disseminating fNIRS datasets, NeuroJSON will provide free data hosting services for all participants.
More importantly, my team will offer hands-on help in assisting all participants in converting your datasets to standardized form, including BIDS compatible datasets, and further help you disseminate your datasets across the community via our websites and software APIs. In addition, the NeuroJSON team will be running a remote-based training workshop and hackathon to help other users and participants to convert their datasets to BIDS and NeuroJSON format for broader dissemination. The details of the upcoming workshop will be announced next week.
If you want to request NeuroJSON developer's help in standardizing your datasets, please check the corresponding options in the registration form above, and leave your contact information - I will set up a follow-up meeting to design the conversion strategies for your dataset.
Please do not hesitate to email me directly if you have any questions related to either the data contest or the special issue submissions.
Qianqian Fang, PhD