Development of a prediction model on the acceptance of electronic laboratory notebooks in academic environments

Abstract

Documentation of research data plays a key role in the biomedical engineering innovation processes. It makes an important contribution to the protection of intellectual property, the traceability of results and fulfilling the regulatory requirement. Because of the increasing digitalization in laboratories, an electronic alternative to the commonly-used paper-bound notebooks could contribute to the production of sophisticated documentation. However, compared to in an industrial environment, the use of electronic laboratory notebooks is not widespread in academic laboratories. Little is known about the acceptance of an electronic documentation system and the underlying reasons for this. Thus, this paper aims to establish a prediction model on the potential preference and acceptance of scientists either for paper-based or electronic documentation. The underlying data for the analysis originate from an online survey of 101 scientists in industrial, academic and clinical environments. Various parameters were analyzed to identify crucial factors for the system preference using binary logistic regression. The analysis showed significant dependency between the documentation system preference and the supposed workload associated with the documentation system (p < 0.006; odds ratio = 58.543) and an additional personal component. Because of the dependency of system choice on specific parameters it is possible to predict the acceptance of an electronic laboratory notebook before implementation.

Implementation and use of cloud-based electronic lab notebook in a bioprocess engineering teaching laboratory

“…Though the use of PLNs has been perfected over several decades, the large data sets generated by many contemporary life science experiments are better managed through electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs). But the academic community has been generally slow in moving towards the use of electronic laboratory notebooks [ 1 , 2 ]. Lack of resources, unstandardized regulations, data security concerns, and low activation energy for changes contribute to poor adoption of ELN in the academia [ 3 ].…”

GitHub as an open electronic laboratory notebook for real-time sharing of knowledge and collaboration

“…Despite these benefits, the shift away from paper to electronic has been an evolutionary process rather than revolutionary and scientists, particularly those in academia, have been slow to accept and adopt ELNs. 4…”

Workflow Management System for the Integration of Mobile Robots in Future Labs of Life Sciences

“…Dependent on the contained range of functions, workflow management systems can include master data management, process documentation, measurement‐data acquisition and processing, sample tracking, process template management as well as report and documentation management . When workflow management systems do not support these functions, additional IT systems, such as laboratory information management systems (LIMS) , electronic laboratory notebooks (ELN) , or scientific data management systems (SDMS) , have to be integrated to realize these tasks.…”