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| Suggested pre-reading | What this web page adds |
|---|---|
| This web-page describes what a research logbook is. Reading this will make you understand what you need to and what you should put into it to make it future proof. |
A research logbook is used to note everything that is done during a project. There are several purposes for using a research logbook:
- Firstly, to assist the project leader (and the project team if there is one). If things are not registered then it is easy to forget decisions taken weeks, months or years back in time. If you can filter out all notes tagged as decisions it helps you go back and review these.
- Secondly, to enable a review of research activities in case the results are challenged or any other problem appears that may warrant a review. The research logbook must be locked for this reason, meaning that everything is written in stone (can not be changed or deleted).
- Thirdly, a log book may provide some evidence of when you came up with a new idea in case someone else says they came up with it first.
A research logbook can either be electronic or consist of hard copies where you write manually. The later has more or less become obsolete. Due to the requirement of ensuring traceability, a simple Word file is unsuitable since it can easily be tampered with. The available options patrtly depends on the type of project and your situation.
Software for clinical medicine
- Research Electronic Data Capture (RedCap)
REDCap) is a secure, web-based software platform developed by Vanderbilt University to build and manage online surveys, clinical databases, and research workflows. Although REDCap is available at no charge, it is not open-source software. To join the consortium (and subsequently obtain the REDCap source code), a valid end-user license agreement between Vanderbilt University and any non-profit organization must be executed. Many universities have a license and has installed the software on their servers to be used by their researchers. There are lots of instructional videos. - eLabFTW
A popular free, open-source electronic lab notebook (see below). eLabFTW should be installed on a server that belongs to your organisation. This means it is not a software that you can download and install on your computer. It must be installed, configured and maintained by your organisations systems administrator. There are also options of having the installation for your organisation hosted (with a cost associated). For clinical research you can strip out all laboratory inventory features and use it strictly as a timestamped team logbook. - LabArchives
This is an electronic lab notebook (see below). You can use it also to only save text (notes) such as dalily activity, decisions etc.
Electronic Lab Notebooks (ELN)
There are often specific regulatory requirements around safety protocols and adherence to these must be documented. This requires software specialist in these matters. A few of them are:
- eLabFTW
A popular free, open-source ELN favored by academic labs across physics, chemistry, and biology that want self-hosted control and timestamped blockchain-style verification. eLabFTW should be installed on a server that belongs to your organisation. This means it is not a software that you can download and install on your computer. It must be installed, configured and maintained by your organisations systems administrator. There are also options of having the installation for your organisation hosted (with a cost associated) - LabArchives
Widely adopted in university and biomedical settings. It is often used in academic medical centers and hospitals. You can set up standardized folder structures or entry templates for Decisions, Notes, and Adverse Events. Every save creates a permanent revision in the history log, and entries can be “signed and witnessed” to freeze them against future tampering. There is a free version for individual researchers and small teams and paid versions for larger teams and orggansiations. - Benchling
It specializes in biotechnology and life sciences, combining daily notebook entries with molecular biology tools (like DNA sequence design) and sample registries. - RSpace
An ELN-system with comprehensive integration with institutional infrastructure and other research tools
Which software should I use?
Your company, health care organisation or university may already have a preferred option. Explore that first. The most common options are REDCap, SciNote, RSpace, and LabArchives. Of these alternatives REDCap is free for universities so that is the most likely software if you are affiliated with a university.
(A description of how to start a research log book in REDCap is coming soon).