Electronic Lab Notebooks (ELNs) are software solutions for the digital acquisition and management of research data. Ideally, the ELN supports the whole research process from the planning and implementation of experiments to the analysis of results.
ELNs are intended to replace classical lab notebooks in order to improve the searchability and accessibility of data as well as the sharing of results. Since the majority of research data is acquired in digital form, ELNs can help to prevent unnecessary media breaks.
On this website you can find information regarding the use of ELNs at Thuringian research institutes. Additionally, information about ELNs and events regarding this topic is provided.
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ELNs at the FSU and Thuringian research institutions
Chemotion ELN
As an ELN, ChemotionExternal link is designed in particular for the needs of chemical research. It is further developed within the NFDI4ChemExternal link and will integrate various features of chemical subdisciplines. The FSU provides an own Chemotion ELN instanceExternal link. For more information, please contact the local NFDI4Chem team.
Labfolder
The ELN LabfolderExternal link is used at the Institute of Microbiology at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena. The ELN is used by staff in their daily laboratory work and also by students writing their theses. In addition, Labfolder, in combination with online materials on digital research data management, is also integrated into the microbiology practicalsExternal link of Bachelor's and Master's students. Dr. Torsten Schubert (torsten.schubert@uni-jena.de) is available as contact person.
RSpace
RSpaceExternal link is established at the Leibniz Institute on Aging – Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI) in Jena. The best practice example is also described in the second version of the ELN-Wegweiser (german)External link of the ZB Med. If you are interested and have any questions about RSpace, please feel free to contact Dr. Karol Szafranski at the FLI (karol.szafranski@leibniz-fli.de).
eLabFTW
The open source software eLabFTWExternal link is being used at a growing number of German universities. The IT Center of the Thuringian Universities (HS-ITZ) is currently working on making eLabFTW available to all Thuringian universities. If you are interested in using eLabFTW, you are welcome to subscribe to the mailing listExternal link. There you will be kept up to date on the status of developments and hopefully soon informed about the launch of the service.
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Information material
- ELN guide, second version 2020External link (ZB MED - Informationszentrum Lebenswissenschaften) (ger)
- ELN filter table from Publisso External link(ger)
- Information regarding ELNs on forschungsdaten.orgExternal link (ger)
- non-binding list of electronic laboratory booksExternal link (Fraunhofer IPA), (ger)
- How to pick an ELNExternal link (Kwok, 2018, Nature 560: 269-270)
- 2019 review of the best electronic laboratory notebooks External link (LabExplorer)
- Overview of specifications of ELNsExternal link (Harvard Biomedical Data Management)
- A pocket guide to electronic laboratory notebooks in the academic life sciencesExternal link (Dirnagl & Przesdzing, 2016, F1000Research 5: 2)
- Probatice electronic lab notebook (BeLab)External link (ger)
- 1st Meeting of the working group regarding ELNs in North Rhine WestphaliaExternal link (09.04.2019, Düsseldorf) (ger)
- Helmholtz Open Science Workshop regarding Electronic Lab NotebooksExternal link (13. - 14.09.2018, Braunschweig) (ger)