ODC Common Terminology

REFERENCE: provides information on Common Terminology and resources to help researchers share and describe data using a common language

A crucial aspect of making data interoperable and reusable is using common definitions for the same things. However, this is extremely challenging in practice because there is generally more than one way to define what we do in the laboratory. Common terminology provides reference models and standards for defining data variables (also known as Data Elements).

Common Terminology

Common Terminology refers to sets of terms (e.g., variables) that are pre-defined and allow for shared data to have a common language. Common terminology provides information on how to name variables, their definitions and, in some instances, define how the variables need to be collected or measured to fulfill those definitions.

Common Terminology allows researchers to understand how the data produced in different studies compares. Using common terminology helps facilitate our understanding of:

• Whether two variables are reporting the same data element

• Whether two variables were produced under the same (or different) conditions

• Whether two variables are directly comparable

EXAMPLE - click to expand

Britt wants to compare the BBB data from her lab with the BBB data from other labs to understand whether her team observes the same level of impairment as other labs that report using a similar injury severity.

What's the problem? What researchers report as injury severity is NOT the same across the entire research community! Some studies report severity as a categorical variable (e.g., mild, moderate, severe), some report severity based on impairment, while others report the details of the injury model.

This means it's hard to understand whether the data is produced under the same conditions and can be compared, similar enough and can be compared, or too different to compare.

What's the solution? Common terminology. If Britt has the details of the injury type (e.g., contusion), injury device (e.g., Infinite Horizons impactor), injury level (e.g., T8), and injury force (e.g., 100 kdyns), she can better determine whether the data she is looking at is actually comparable to the data her team produced.

Common Data Elements (CDEs)

"Simply put, a CDE is a standardised format for reporting, defining, and describing a piece of data (e.g., a single variable or metadata element), that ensures data is consistently collected and reported the same way across different research studies. Through the standardisation of variable names, titles, definitions, data types, and permissible values, CDEs define how each data element should be reported and structured. Furthermore, CDEs can be developed and structured in such a way as to provide additional context as to the relationships between data elements. This is often done through the use of classifiers that identify a general data domain (e.g., subject or injury characteristics) or describe importance (e.g., core vs. supplemental)." — Fedor et al. 2025

The development and use of CDEs has been driven by clinical research - both SCI and TBI have established CDE sets for clinical data (available here from NINDS). As data sharing has become more prevalent, the need for similar structure and standards has been recognised by many members of various preclinical research communities.

Implementation of Common Terminology in the ODC

The ODC strongly encourages data producers to use CDEs when possible. However, we recognise that established CDEs may not exist/apply to all data produced in a study; strict use of CDEs is not required.

To ensure published datasets have appropriate context for reuse, the ODC has identified minimum sets of data elements that must be present to publish a dataset for each community (SCI or TBI).

Common Terminologies are always in development and are likely to evolve and change over time. The ODC Data Teams can help researchers understand and navigate these terminologies - contact us if you need help!

ODC-SCI Supported Common Terminology

To ensure published datasets have appropriate context for reuse, in 2021, ODC-SCI identified a minimum set of data elements that must be present to publish a preclinical SCI dataset. As preclinical SCI does not presently have established CDEs, these data elements were reviewed and endorsed by the Community Board and named the ODC-SCI Community Data Elements (CoDEs). The CoDEs have evolved over time, primarily as modifications to the machine readable variable names, but remain the same at their core. The current version of the CoDEs is always available here: ODC-SCI CoDEs.

REFERENCE: SCI Required Variables (ODC Publishing Standard)

ODC-TBI Supported Common Terminology

The preclinical TBI research community has been a leader in creating CDEs for preclinical neurotrauma research. There are currently several federally-supported efforts to develop and update common data elements for TBI. Prominent examples are:

• NINDS pre-clinical TBI common data elements (CDEs)

• PRECISE-TBI CDEs: the PRE Clinical Interagency reSearch resourcE-TBI (PRECISE-TBI) project uses the ODC-TBI as a data-sharing platform. PRECISE-TBI is developing a set of CDEs for pre-clinical TBI research. Those CDEs will be available for their use as common terminology for data shared through the ODC-TBI

• TOP-NT TBI CDEs: the Translational Outcomes Project In Neurotrauma (TOP-NT) is a consortium for developing and validating clinically relevant biomarkers for traumatic brain injury (TBI)

To ensure published datasets have appropriate context for reuse, in 2025, ODC-TBI identified a minimum set of data elements (from the PRECISE-TBI CDEs) that must be present to publish a preclinical TBI dataset.

REFERENCE: TBI Required Variables (ODC Publishing Standard)