Electronic laboratory notebook: eLabFTW solution

The Documentation Direction, Digital Direction and Valorization-Innovation Sub-Direction of the University of Lorraine coordinate an electronic laboratory notebook service. The research data workshop ADOC Lorraine runs it.

eLabFTW

Available at the University of Lorraine since March 2023, eLabFTW is a free and open source software of electronic laboratory notebook. The Deltablot company develops this general and customisable tool. It addresses to research centres of Université de Lorraine, whatever their field.

Request assistance

To get familiar with the tool, you may attend our workshops throughout the year. Go to https://rdv.univ-lorraine.fr/ateliersbu/science-ouverte/

Any question on the tool running? ADOC Lorraine data support is at your disposal. Write to donnees-recherche@univ-lorraine.fr

For technical support or an exceptional backup request, request assistance in the iTop tool of the Université de Lorraine.

A laboratory notebook can be designed for a research project, manipulations on specific equipment, or in the context of collaboration and consortium agreements. Any question on the laboratory notebook, its running and design for specific research, or to list users’ laboratory notebook? The Valorization-Innovation Sub-Direction (SVDI) can help you. Contact the valorisation engineer of your research centre or write to drv-sdvi-contact@univ-lorraine.fr

Also known as “lab notebook”, “research notebook”, or “science experiment notebook”, a laboratory notebook records research activity daily. Although it is not mandatory, it is recommended as part of a quality procedure in research (i.e. transparency, reproducibility, traceability, explainability, open research and replicability). Within a research centre, anyone carrying out research activity can use it: researchers and lecturers, engineers and technicians, postdoctoral and doctoral researchers, and interns.

The first function of a laboratory notebook is to meet research traceability requirements. It has to guarantee the repeatability and reproducibility of experiments. It has to be able to serve as proof of originality, authorship, and anteriority of the results and their authenticity to assert its rights of intellectual property. Therefore, the recorded information has to be complete, accurate, attributable, dated and verifiable. Last, it is a valuation tool of research. It is a part of the heritage of a research centre. As a paper notebook, an electronic laboratory notebook has to fulfil these functions. It meets the requirements of a quality procedure in a research centre. Whether paper or electronic, a laboratory notebook is the property of the research centre’s administrative supervision, such as raw results have to be kept if a verification is necessary.

Today, digital data production is increasing. Using an electronic laboratory notebook is a means to adapt current research practices. While it ensures the research traceability and contributes to scientific integrity, the electronic laboratory notebook also responds to the open science challenge, especially through its articulation with data management plans. The electronic laboratory notebook has its place in the data life cycle to have FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) data available. Its purpose is indeed to ensure a well thought out data management and to guarantee the traceability of experiments.