[question] [structural MRI] How should radiological reports (e.g., MRI findings) be stored according to BIDS Derivatives?

[mariamonzon]

Hello,

I was not able to find information in current BIDS specifications how to store clinical radiology reports (e.g., MRI interpretations) alongside processed imaging data. Should these reports...

• Be stored as unstructured files (PDF/TXT) or structured JSON with standardized metadata?
• Follow a specific naming convention (e.g., *_desc-radiology_report.[ext]) under derivatives/?
• Include mandatory fields (e.g., Author, ReportDate, Modality) in accompanying sidecars?

Thanks!

[effigies]

Apologies for the slow response. This would fall under Unspecified data:

Additional files and directories containing raw data MAY be added as needed for special cases. All non-standard file entities SHOULD conform to BIDS-style naming conventions, including alphabetic entities and suffixes and alphanumeric labels/indices. Non-standard suffixes SHOULD reflect the nature of the data, and existing entities SHOULD be used when appropriate. For example, an ASSET calibration scan might be named sub-01_acq-ASSET_calibration.nii.gz.

Non-standard files and directories should be named with care. Future BIDS efforts may standardize new entities and suffixes, changing the meaning of filenames and setting requirements on their contents or metadata. Validation and parsing tools MAY treat the presence of non-standard files and directories as an error, so consult the details of these tools for mechanisms to suppress warnings or provide interpretations of your filenames.

[effigies]

I would recommend choosing something that works for your data and collaborators. Maybe a reports/ subdirectory.

If you find that heterogeneity is a barrier to communication, then work with your collaborators to find a common set of conventions that works for you, with an eye to being "BIDSy". Once you've got that working, you can make a proposal to the wider community.