A laboratory notebook is a bench scientist’s record of hypotheses, procedures, data, and calculations. A good lab notebook allows another researcher to verify or repeat an experiment. An electronic lab notebook (ELN) performs the same purpose, but in a computerized format. An ELN can also perform more sophisticated tasks than a paper notebook, including analyzing data, searching text, producing experiment templates, and interfacing with lab instrumentation. ELNs also can be safer for long term data storage and easier to share among collaborators.
