Electronic Lab Notebooks and Beyond! The evolution of process recording tools for scientific research - Presentation at ACS Fall 2023

Presentation given by Dr Samantha P. Kanza on behalf of PSDI at ACS Fall 2023. Abstract: The Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) was originally created to serve as a direct replacement for the paper lab notebook, to ensure the digital capture and retention of the scientific record. What seemed like an obvious simple software-based solution has been anything but, and there are now over 80 active ELNs on the market and a wide range of different approaches have been taken to digitizing scientific research across academia and industry.

This talk will discuss the shift in software offerings and attitudes to process recording software and report on the results of a recent survey on ELN and Notebook Usage in our physical sciences community. We will also discuss the current work that is being undertaken to produce a comprehensive resource on process recording tools to aid researchers in identifying the best solution(s) for them.

It has become clear over the last two decades that the implementation and adoption of any process recording software in the research environment is a multifaceted socio-technical matter, with many potential barriers and considerations. However, there has been a noticeable shift over the last few years of the offerings of laboratory management software as a whole, and many companies now offer entire suites of software including Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS), Laboratory Execution Systems (LES), Scientific Data Management Software (SDMS), links to chemical registries, inventory management, and at the heart of all of these offerings remains an ELN, which is suddenly so much more than a paper lab notebook replacement. Additionally, there has been an increase in the offerings of the generic notebooking software with a much wider range of features, and in many cases the ability to create your own plugins for generic or domain specific needs.