Data Sharing of the Phase II from the DIRECT Consortium

Submitted by YAN Chao-Gan on

Background and Rationale

Major depressive disorder (MDD), bipolar disorder (BD), and schizophrenia (SCZ) are major contributors to disability and disease burden. Despite rapid advances in brain imaging, the translation of neuroimaging biomarkers into clinical psychiatry has been limited - primarily due to inconsistent findings, small sample sizes, and analytic heterogeneity. To address these critical barriers, the Depression Imaging REsearch ConsorTium (DIRECT) was launched in 2017 to build large-scale, harmonized neuroimaging datasets for the scientific community. Although DIRECT was established around depression research, Phase II now also supports transdiagnostic investigation across MDD, BD, and SCZ.

The first phase of DIRECT—the REST-meta-MDD Project—aggregated resting-state fMRI data from 1,300 MDD patients and 1,128 healthy controls across 25 cohorts, using a standardized preprocessing pipeline (DPARSF). These data were openly shared (https://rfmri.org/REST-meta-MDD) and have already enabled influential discoveries (see Yan et al., PNAS 2019; Chen et al., Psychoradiology 2022). However, REST-meta-MDD Phase I was limited to region-of-interest (ROI) level indices.

What’s New in DIRECT Phase II

Building on the success and collaborative infrastructure of REST-meta-MDD, DIRECT Phase II assembled and harmonized voxel- and vertex-level BOLD time series and T1-weighted structural MRI from 1,660 MDD patients and 1,341 healthy controls across 23 cohorts. The unrestricted release has now been expanded with resting-state fMRI data from 205 bipolar disorder (BD) patients and 314 schizophrenia (SCZ) patients, bringing the resource to 3,520 participants. Phase II data were processed with the advanced DPABISurf pipeline (see Yan et al., Science Bulletin 2021), and site researchers completed dedicated training to maximize harmonization and quality control.

This expanded resource combines the largest, most detailed open neuroimaging dataset for MDD to date with added BD and SCZ cohorts, enabling reproducible, high-powered investigations of functional connectivity (FC) alterations within and across diagnostic groups, transdiagnostic biomarker discovery, and translational research - from basic mechanisms to individualized intervention strategies (Chen et al., Science Bulletin 2025; Wang et al., Science Bulletin 2026).

Key Features

  • Scale: 3,520 participants (1,660 MDD patients, 1,341 healthy controls, 205 BD patients, and 314 SCZ patients); multi-center, harmonized protocol
  • Data: Voxel/vertex-level resting-state fMRI time series, T1 structural images, and standardized phenotypic data, including diagnostic group labels
  • Pipeline: Unified preprocessing (DPABISurf); all sites trained for consistent data handling
  • Community Impact: Enables cross-site reproducibility, transdiagnostic comparisons across MDD, BD, and SCZ, large-scale data-driven biomarker discovery, and benchmarking of new analytic methods

Detailed information about the original DIRECT Phase II cohorts and imaging parameters is provided in the Supplementary Information of Chen et al. (2025, Science Bulletin). The inclusion and use of 205 BD and 314 SCZ participants are described in Wang et al. (2026, Science Bulletin) and its Supplementary Materials.

Data Sharing Process and Requirements

Following the successful data-sharing model established in REST-meta-MDD, DIRECT Phase II data were shared in two phases:

  1. Coordinated Sharing (from publication until Jan 1, 2026):
    • Interested researchers submit a brief letter of intent to rfmrilab@gmail.com.
    • Proposals are reviewed for potential overlap. Approved proposals are notified of ongoing projects, helping researchers avoid duplication and fostering collaboration.
    • We welcome new, innovative proposals—especially those that expand the field or apply novel analytic methods.
  2. Unrestricted Sharing (since January 1, 2026):
    • Full open access to all qualified researchers.
    • Analyses and applications are welcomed, provided that standard citation guidelines and ethical requirements are followed.

Citation and Acknowledgement Requirements

All users must cite both Science Bulletin data-announcing papers that describe the DIRECT Phase II release and its BD/SCZ extension:

Chen X, Lu B, Wang Y-W, et al. Subgenual anterior cingulate cortex functional connectivity abnormalities in depression: insights from brain imaging big data and precision-guided personalized intervention via transcranial magnetic stimulation. Science Bulletin 2025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scib.2025.05.042

Wang Z-H, Chen X, Lu B, et al. Cross-subject decoding of internal mental states using predictive time-series modeling. Science Bulletin 2026. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scib.2026.05.060

We also recommend citing the following related resources to properly acknowledge the consortium’s ongoing work and community standards:

  • Chen X, Lu B, Li H-X, et al. The DIRECT consortium and the REST-meta-MDD project: towards neuroimaging biomarkers of major depressive disorder. Psychoradiology 2022;2(1):32-42. https://doi.org/10.1093/psyrad/kkac005
  • Yan C-G, Chen X, Li L, et al. Reduced default mode network functional connectivity in patients with recurrent major depressive disorder. PNAS 2019;116(18):9078-83. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1900390116
  • Yan C-G, Wang X-D, Lu B. DPABISurf: data processing & analysis for brain imaging on surface. Science Bulletin 2021;66(24):2453-55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scib.2021.09.016

Prompt citation and proper acknowledgment support ongoing data sharing and community resource building—please help us make this dataset maximally visible and impactful.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Beijing Nova Program of Science and Technology, the Beijing Natural Science Foundation, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Sci-Tech Innovation 2030, the National Key R&D Program of China, the Key Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and many others (see full list in the Science Bulletin paper).

The DIRECT Phase II data, including the BD and SCZ extension, entered unrestricted sharing on January 1, 2026. The researchers can perform any analyses of interest while not violating ethics. Please visit Psychologcial Science Data Bank: (https://doi.org/10.57760/sciencedb.psych.00689) to download the data, and then sign the Data Use Agreement and email the scanned signed copy to rfmrilab@gmail.com to get unzip password and phenotypic information.

 

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