Lab notebook

A laboratory notebook or laboratory notebook is a notebook, in which the planning, implementation and evaluation will be documented by scientific experiments. Since the award of a scientific discovery or a patent may depend (in some countries, eg in the U.S.) of who made ​​the first a discovery or invention, there are strict rules, such as a laboratory notebook must be kept with the employer or by the university different rules can also be made. In general, it should be applied procedures:

Some universities or companies still require the following:

• Each page is stamped with the date and be signed by the experimenter. An independent witness expressed his signature that the records are understandable and complete. If a page is not fully described, the unused side rest crossed through diagonally.
• Discover an error on a more distant side, one may this not correct there, but must make a reference to the current page; might be necessary to run it, what are the consequences of these errors for the subsequent work.

An electronic laboratory notebook (ELN )

The laboratory notebook is increasingly done with the help of a computer. This laboratory personnel is particularly relieved from constant writing down the measurements and supported by additional functionalities. A computer-based lab notebook, or even electronic laboratory notebooks (ELN ), offers significant advantages: reading and writing errors are avoided, a search function allows quick search of experiments, results, etc., and the tamper-proof storage with an electronic signature is possible. Experimental parameters, measurement data and evaluated results are presented in log sheets with tables, text boxes, and xy or xt - diagrams. The computer-based laboratory notebook is usually integrated into a laboratory automation software. It is also possible by appropriate database systems, the entries easy to make available to all employees in the laboratory notebook, often only read permission exists for the other or for old data, which prevents accidental deletion of data.