Research standards
How FMRI proposes to plan, register, report and share its research, and how it will handle health information.
Status
These standards are a proposal and take effect when the owner confirms their adoption. They apply to research that FMRI conducts or commissions. FMRI has not started a study.
Protocol and analysis plan
Every study must have a written protocol and a written analysis plan before data collection begins. The plan states the question, the outcomes, the sample, the methods and the analyses that will be reported.
Changes after that point are deviations. Each deviation is documented with its date and reason and is reported with the findings.
Findings are reported accurately. That includes results that are negative, inconclusive or unwelcome to FMRI, to a funder or to the sport.
Registration
Studies are registered before they start where registration applies to the design. Clinical trials follow the ICMJE position on clinical trial registration. Systematic reviews are registered in a public registry before screening begins.
Reporting standards
FMRI reports its research using the guideline that fits the study design, as catalogued by the EQUATOR Network:
- STROBE for observational studies;
- CONSORT for randomized trials;
- PRISMA for systematic reviews.
Each FMRI publication says which guideline was used.
Authorship and disclosure
Authorship follows the ICMJE criteria for authors and contributors. Everyone listed as an author must meet those criteria, and everyone who meets them must be listed.
Authors disclose their interests using the ICMJE standard for disclosure of financial and non-financial relationships. Funding and the funder’s role are stated in every publication.
Health information and HIPAA
Before a study uses health information, FMRI will assess whether the HIPAA Privacy Rule applies to FMRI and to each data partner in that study. The assessment is documented.
Where the rule applies, FMRI will document the arrangement that permits the use: an individual’s authorization, a waiver approved by an IRB or privacy board, or a data-use agreement. Official reference: HHS guidance on health information in research.
Where the rule does not apply, the confidentiality rules in the participant protection policy still do.
Sharing methods, code and data
FMRI shares methods, analysis code and data to the extent permitted by:
- what participants consented to;
- the ethics determination for the study;
- contractual rights;
- privacy protections, including the risk of re-identifying fighters from small groups and public bout records.
Where data cannot be shared, the publication says why.
What this website does not collect
FMRI does not expose individual health information through this website.
The website does not collect symptoms, medical histories, concussion scores or suicide-risk responses. It is not a research instrument, and it is not a route for enrolling in a study.