Lab notebook: Difference between revisions

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{{shortShort description|Primary record of research}}

[[File:AGBell Notebook.jpg|thumb|Page from a laboratory notebook of [[Alexander Graham Bell]], 1876.]]

[[File:Otto Hahn's notebook 1938 - Deutsches Museum - Munich.jpg|thumb|Page from the notebook of [[Otto Hahn]], 1938.]]

[[File:Lab notebook for A Test of the Coordinated Expression Hypothesis for the Origin and Maintenance of the GAL Cluster in Yeast.pdf|thumb|Lab notebook with the complete record of the experiments underlying a published [[Scholarly paper|paper]].<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Lang | first1 = G. I. | last2 = Botstein | first2 = D. | editor1-last = Rusche | editor1-first = Laura N | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0025290 | title = A Test of the Coordinated Expression Hypothesis for the Origin and Maintenance of the GAL Cluster in Yeast | journal = PLoSPLOS ONE | volume = 6 | issue = 9 | pages = e25290 | year = 2011 | pmid = 21966486| pmc =3178652 | bibcode = 2011PLoSO...625290L | doi-access = free }}</ref>]]

[[File:Schablone Logarex 25524-S, Chemie II.jpg|thumb|Chemistry stencils that used to be used for drawing equipment in lab notebooks.]]

A '''laboratory notebook''' ([[colloquialism|''colloq.'']] '''lab notebook''' or '''lab book''') is a primary record of [[research]]. Researchers use a lab notebook to document their [[hypothesis|hypotheses]], [[experiment]]s and initial analysis or interpretation of these experiments. The notebook serves as an organizational tool, a memory aid, and can also have a role in protecting any [[intellectual property]] that comes from the research.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Schnell|first=Santiago|date=2015-09-10|title=Ten Simple Rules for a Computational Biologist's Laboratory Notebook|journal=PLOS Computational Biology|volume=11|issue=9|pages=e1004385|doi=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004385|pmid=26356732|pmc=4565690|bibcode=2015PLSCB..11E4385S|issn=1553-7358 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Structure==

The guidelines for lab notebooks vary widely between institution and between individual labs, but some guidelines are fairly common, for example, like those in the reference.<ref>Hans Friedrich Ebel, Claus Bliefert, William E. Russey,"The art of scientific writing: from student reports to professional publications in chemistry and related fields", 2nd edition, Wiley, 2004, pp.15-20. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Aj1Filb-TvoC&pg=PA15&dq=laboratory+notebook&hlpg=en&ei=xKSjTZftFondgQeX_djaBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CFAQ6AEwAzgU#v=onepage&q=laboratory%20notebook&f=falsePA15 (Google books)]</ref> The lab notebook is typically permanently bound and pages are numbered. Dates are given as a rule. All entries are with a permanent writing tool, e.g., a ballpoint pen (though a [[permanent marker]] may be undesirable, as the ink might bleed through multiple pages). The lab notebook is usually written as the experiments progress, rather than at a later date. In many laboratories, it is the original place of record of data (no copying is carried out from other notes) as well as any observations or insights. For data recorded by other means (e.g., on a computer), the lab notebook will record that the data was obtained and the identification of the data set will be given in the notebook.<ref>Martin Kühne and Andreas W. Liehr, "Improving the Traditional Information Management in Natural Sciences", Data Science Journal, 2009, 8, 18-26, [https://dx.doi.org/10.2481/dsj.8.18 DOI 10.2481/dsj.8.18]</ref> Many{{who|date=August 2020}} adhere to the concept that a lab notebook should be thought of as a diary of activities that are described in sufficient detail to allow another scientist to replicate the steps. In laboratories with several staff and a common laboratory notebook, entries in the notebook are signed by those making them.

==Legal aspects==

To ensure that data cannot be easily altered, notebooks with permanently bound pages are often recommended.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Schnell|first=Santiago|date=2015-09-10|title=Ten Simple Rules for a Computational Biologist's Laboratory Notebook|journal=PLOS Computational Biology|volume=11|issue=9|pages=e1004385|doi=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004385|pmid=26356732|pmc=4565690|bibcode=2015PLSCB..11E4385S|issn=1553-7358 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Researchers are often encouraged to write only with unerasable pen, to sign and date each page, and to have their notebooks inspected periodically by another scientist who can read and understand it.<ref>{{cite book |last=Thomson |first=JA |author-link= |date=2007 |title=How to Start—and Keep—a Laboratory Notebook: Policy and Practical Guidelines. In: Intellectual Property Management in Health and Agricultural Innovation: A Handbook of Best Practices (eds. Krattiger A, Mahoney RT, Nelsen L, et al.) |url= |___location=Oxford, UK |publisher=MIHR |pages=763–771 |isbn=}}</ref> All of these guidelines can be useful in proving exactly when a discovery was made, in the case of a patent dispute. It is worth noting however thatHowever following March 2013, lab notebooks are of limited legal use in the United States, due to a change in the law that grants patents to the first person to file, rather than the first person to invent.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Abrams |first1=David |last2=Wagner |first2=R. Polk |title=Poisoning the Next Apple? The America Invents Act and Individual Inventors |journal=Stanford Law Review |date=1 March 2013 |volume=65 |issue=3 |page=519 |url=http://www.stanfordlawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2013/03/WagnerAbrams_65_Stan._L._Rev._517.pdf |access-date=17 May 2021}}</ref> The lab notebook is still useful for proving that work was not stolen, but can no longer be used to dispute the patent of an unrelated party.

==Electronic formats==

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==Open lab notebooks==

{{mainMain|Open notebook science}}

Lab notebooks kept online have started to become as transparent to the world as they are to the researcher keeping them, a trend often referred to as Open Notebook Science, after the title of a 2006 blogpost by chemist [[Jean-Claude Bradley]]. The term is frequently used to distinguish this aspect of ''Open Science'' from the related but rather independent developments commonly labeled as ''[[Openopen Sourcesource]]'', ''[[Openopen access (publishing)|Open Access]]'', ''[[Openopen Datadata]]'' and so forth. The openness of the notebook, then, specifically refers to the set of the following points, or elements thereof:

#Sharing of the researcher's laboratory notebook online in real time without password protection or limitations on the use of the data.

#The [[raw data]] used by the researcher to derive observations and conclusions are made available online to anyone.

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==See also==

*[[Exercise book]]

*[[Fieldnotes]]

*[[Ruled paper]]

*[[Graph paper]]

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== External links ==

{{commonsCommons category|Lab notebooks}}

*[http://labs.physics.dur.ac.uk/skills/skills/labbook.php Durham University Guide on Lab Books] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807070715/http://labs.physics.dur.ac.uk/skills/skills/labbook.php |date=2016-08-07 }}

* NIH training guide for [https://web.archive.org/web/20130217050753/https://www.training.nih.gov/assets/Lab_Notebook_508_(new).pdf Keeping a Lab Notebook]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lab Notebook}}