Dopamine's role in addiction has been extensively studied, revealing disruptions in its functioning throughout all addiction stages. Neuromelanin in the substantia nigra (SN) may reflect dopamine auto-oxidation, and can be quantified using neuromelaninsensitive magnetic resonance imaging (neuromelanin-MRI) in a non-invasive manner.In this pre-registered systematic review, we assess the current body of evidence related to neuromelanin levels in substance use disorders, using both post-mortem and MRI examinations. The systematic search identified 10 relevant articles, primarily focusing on the substantia nigra. An early-stage meta-analysis (n = 6) revealed varied observations ranging from standardized mean differences of −3.55 to +0.62, with a pooled estimate of −0.44 (95 % CI = −1.52, 0.65), but there was insufficient power to detect differences in neuromelanin content among individuals with substance use disorders. Our gap analysis highlights the lack of sufficient replication studies, with existing studies lacking the power to detect a true difference, and a complete lack of neuromelanin studies on certain substances of clinical interest. We provide recommendations for future studies of dopaminergic neurobiology in addictions and related psychiatric comorbidities. •Ten studies were found that measure dopaminergic changes associated with SUD by employing neuromelanin signal from postmortem tissue and magnetic resonance imaging in vivo data.•In the same fashion as markers of liver injury indicate the severity of alcohol use disorder, neuromelanin may have a potential to be a 'criterion marker' for SUD.•Neuromelanin imaging is a promising approach to further study dopamine neurobiology in SUD.