Most data hosted on PhysioNet is openly available: it requires no authentication to download and is free to use as long as you adhere to the associated license. Alternatively, certain datasets on PhysioNet, such as MIMIC, require verification prior to signing of a data use agreement.

There are two separate verification processes:

• credentialing - where you submit information about yourself and your research, and someone on the PhysioNet team reviews your application and verifies you have a legitimate interest in the data.
• training - where you submit proof that you have completed a training course required by the dataset.

These processes are independent and facilitated by staff at PhysioNet. Importantly, not all datasets require both. Check the project page and pay careful attention to the requirements under the "Files" section.

Once you have created an account and logged in, you can access the "Credentialing" and "Training" panels in your profile (click your username at the top right and navigate to "Settings").

Q1: How long does it take for Credentialing process and CITI training report approval?

A: Approval time typically takes 1-2 weeks, but may vary depending on circumstances.

Q2: If my Credentialing process remains "Pending," how long should I wait?

A: If your status has remained pending for more than a week, a confirmation email may have been sent to your reference regarding your PhysioNet application. Please ask your reference to check if they have received an email from credentialing@physionet.org that requires a response.

Q3: Is there a way to expedite the Credentialing process?

A: You can expedite the process by registering an academic email address or ORCID associated with your affiliated institution. 

Q1: How should I select the affiliation and course for CITI training?

A: Please select "Massachusetts Institute of Technology Affiliates" as your affiliation, then choose the "Data or Specimens Only Research" course. For detailed step-by-step instructions, please refer to: https://physionet.org/about/citi-course/

Q2: I'm at another University. Should I really select MIT for the CITI course?

A: Yes. It's important to select MIT as the approval process looks for completion of specific training courses which may not be available at your University. It is acceptable to affiliate with MIT for the purpose of accessing the dataset.

Q3: Do I need to pay for CITI training?

A: No, if you select "Massachusetts Institute of Technology Affiliates," you can take the course for free. You are affiliating with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for the purposes of accessing data that is managed by MIT.

Q1: What are the specific steps to use the credentialed data?

A: To access PhysioNet's credentialed data, you must first complete the Credentialing process (https://physionet.org/settings/profile/) and obtain approval for your CITI training report (https://physionet.org/about/citi-course/). After that, you can access the data by signing the data use agreement.

Q2: Can I share data with others? Can I share it with students in my classes?

A: For credentialed access data such as MIMIC and eICU, each user must obtain individual access rights. Sharing data within teams or classes is not permitted.

Q3: Can I use Large Language Models (LLMs) for analysis?

A: Current policy requires adherence to a zero data retention policy. Local LLM models can be used without restrictions, but there are limitations when using API services. Please check the details at: https://physionet.org/news/post/llm-responsible-use/

Q4: I cannot download data, or the download is very slow. What should I do?

A: Typically, when using wget commands, data exceeding several tens of GB requires considerable download time. Consider using AWS options or GCP options (paid) if available.

Q5: Is it possible to publish individual MIMIC data (images, text) as examples in papers?

A: Unfortunately, under current policy, individual MIMIC images or clinical notes cannot be published in papers without explicit patient consent. We recommend creating synthetic data or, if necessary, reproducing data that was published in the original MIMIC papers.

PhysioNet supports terabytes of downloads per day, for free. In order to support this volume, bandwidth is restricted for individual downloads. For certain very large datasets we understand that this is prohibitive. A number of these projects have been uploaded to Amazon Web Services (AWS) and users who create an AWS account will be able to download the dataset, for free, through the AWS Open Data Program. Users can configure AWS access through the Cloud section of their profile: https://physionet.org/settings/cloud/

Once you have access to a PhysioNet project, the "Enable AWS access" button will be visible under the Files section. If this button is not visible, then the project has not been uploaded to AWS. Feel free to contact PhysioNet if you feel the dataset is large enough to warrant sharing it via AWS.

Certain datasets are also available via Google Cloud Platform (GCP), but downloads via GCP are charged to the user.

Q1: What happens after my submitted project is accepted by PhysioNet?

A: Upon acceptance,  the project will go through a copy-edit stage by the PhysioNet editorial team. Once the copy-edit stage is complete, the authors will be contacted to review and approve the copy-edited project.  Once the authors approve, the PhysioNet editorial team will proceed with publication of the project.

Q2: How long does the review process take?  How long does it usually take to get a project published?

A: The timeline for reviewing a project highly depends on the complexity of the project content and the number of submissions currently in our queue. The time it takes for a project to be published on our platform largely depends on how closely the project aligns with our publishing guidelines and how quickly the authors address any review comments. Clear adherence to guidelines and prompt responses can significantly streamline the process.

Q3: Can I have a link for sharing a submitted project with reviewers of an associated article?

A: Yes, once a project is submitted to PhysioNet, we can provide you with a temporary, private URL that can be shared with reviewers. Please contact us to request a link: https://physionet.org/about/#contact_us. If you require the author details to remain hidden, please let us know when requesting the link.

Q4: Can I have the final citation of my project before it has been published?

A: Yes, once a project is accepted for publication (and before publication) we can provide you with the final citation, including DOI. This allows you to add the citation to an accompanying paper.

Q5: Can I embargo release of data until a specified date?

A: Yes, in some circumstances we are able to embargo the release date of your data. In this case, the project landing page would be visible, but data downloads are restricted until the embargo date has passed.

Q6: Can I make changes to my project after it has been published?

A: No, you are not able to change project content after publication, to ensure integrity of the academic record. You can however publish an updated version of a project by clicking "New version" on the project management page: https://physionet.org/projects/. In these cases, we can prevent downloads of earlier versions if required.

Google BigQuery

Q1: I clicked on "Request access using Google BigQuery" from the Files section of a PhysioNet project and was granted access to my registered gmail account but I get an error when trying to query the tables on BigQuery (e.g. User does not have permission to query table <table_name>).

A: You must have an active billing account set up for the BigQuery project you are using to query the PhysioNet project tables (e.g. `physionet-data.mimiciv_ed.edstays`). Run this command in a terminal gcloud beta billing projects describe <project_id> (requires the Google Cloud SDK to be installed and authenticated with your registered gmail account), where <project_id> is the BigQuery project you are using (as selected by the project picker in the top left of the BigQuery page). In the output confirm that billingEnabled: true is shown. If it is not, you need to set up billing for your project, as queries are billed to you.