Electronic laboratory notebook

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Screenshot of the user interface of the eLabFTW installation from the official demo page. Fictitious entries from experiments can be seen in a list.
Screenshot of the user interface of the eLabFTW installation from the official demo page. Fictitious entries from experiments can be seen in a list.

An electronic laboratory notebook ( ELB for short or electronic laboratory journal ) is a laboratory journal that is digitally created and accessed using special software . An electronic laboratory notebook has the right to replace a handwritten or printed laboratory journal. Just like their analogue models, electronic laboratory books are used to document the planning, implementation and evaluation of scientific experiments .

The idea of managing the information in a laboratory electronically, i.e. computer-assisted, goes back to the 1980s. Due to the availability of digital end devices, such as notebooks or tablet computers and measurement methods with digital output, electronic laboratory books have experienced continuous interest in the last 10 to 20 years.

requirements

The minimum requirement for using an electronic laboratory notebook is access to a corresponding device that is compatible with the selected software . Since many of these software systems provide access via a web interface, there are no other requirements besides a current web browser .

Types of electronic laboratory books

A distinction is made between three different types of electronic laboratory notebooks:

  1. General systems, such as word processing software or note-taking software
  2. Dedicated systems for the management of electronic laboratory books
  3. Specialized systems for the management of electronic laboratory books in a specific scientific discipline

Features and Criticism

In addition to the functions of analog laboratory notebooks, many electronic laboratory notebooks also offer additional functions. This includes, for example, access to data and results using search masks and by other employees or external collocation partners. Since many electronic laboratory journals allow access via the Internet and thus mobile devices, they continue to offer advantages in a decentralized work environment. It is also often possible to store inventory or chemical lists. In this way, for example, the use of individual consumables can be monitored. Linking with devices in the laboratory can also lead to loss-free data transfer and uncomplicated merging of various measurement data. Simplified data management is also possible. Web browser-based access also creates a certain level of platform independence.

Another important point is security. On the one hand, electronic laboratory journals offer increased security against physical data theft through password protection, but on the other hand they are a target for hackers to attack . The data is also not always stored locally, but in some cases with third-party providers or gives them access to user data. Other points of criticism are the sometimes relatively high costs or the general market. For example, there may be no more updates for the digital solution used after a few years for various reasons. In addition, analog laboratory journals are often considered to be easier to use, especially since they do not require any training period.

Electronic laboratory notebook software

designation providers License
CERF Lab-Ally LLC
eLabFTW Nicolas Carpi GNU Affero General Public License v3.0
lab folder Labfolder GmbH Proprietary
SciNote SciNote LLC

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Raymond E. Dessy: Managing the Electronic Laboratory: Part I . In: Analytical Chemistry . tape 56 , no. 6 , May 1984, pp. 725-734 .
  2. ↑ Google Trends - search term "Electronic lab notebook". Retrieved January 29, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Ulrich Dirnagl, Ingo Przesdzing: A pocket guide to electronic laboratory notebooks in the academic life sciences . In: F1000Research . tape 5 , January 4, 2016, ISSN  2046-1402 , p. 2 , doi : 10.12688 / f1000research.7628.1 , PMID 26835004 ( f1000research.com [accessed January 29, 2019]).
  4. ↑ a b c d e The Pros and Cons of Using an Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) | GoldBio. Retrieved March 27, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Sciformation Consulting GmbH. Retrieved March 27, 2020 .
  6. ↑ a b Jon Switters, David Osimo: Electronic Laboratory Notebooks (ELNs) as Key Enablers of Open Science - Open Science Monitor Case Study. European Commission , April 2019, accessed March 28, 2020 .
  7. ↑ a b c Samantha Kanza, Cerys Willoughby, Nicholas Gibbins, Richard Whitby, Jeremy Graham Frey: Electronic lab notebooks: can they replace paper? In: Journal of Cheminformatics . tape 9 , no. 1 , December 2017, ISSN  1758-2946 , p. 31 , doi : 10.1186 / s13321-017-0221-3 , PMID 29086051 , PMC 5443717 (free full text) - ( biomedcentral.com [accessed March 27, 2020]).
  8. ^ Lab-Ally, company that makes CERF. In: CERF. Retrieved January 28, 2019 (American English).
  9. ↑ eLabFTW - Open Source Laboratory Notebook. Accessed January 28, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Lab manager, experiment notebook, database for research labs: elabftw / elabftw. elabftw, January 28, 2019, accessed on January 28, 2019 .