ELN and LIMS Basics
TL;DR
An electronic lab notebook (ELN) is software that takes the place of the paper lab notebook. Scientists write up the objective, method, observations and results of each experiment, and every entry is timestamped and tied to a named user. The system keeps each saved version, and its audit trail and electronic signatures let the record stand up later.
An electronic lab notebook (ELN) is software for recording experimental work: the objective, the method, the materials used, what you observed and what the data showed. Every entry carries the author's name and a timestamp. And because the system keeps every saved version, the record of who did what, and when, builds up as the work gets written.
The conventions come straight from the bound paper notebook. Numbered pages, dated entries, permanent ink and a witness signature at the bottom of the page all exist because patent attorneys and regulated labs needed proof that a record had not been changed after the fact. An ELN carries that expectation into software. For FDA-regulated work, 21 CFR Part 11 sets out when electronic records and electronic signatures can stand in for paper records and handwritten signatures.
People often mix up an ELN and a laboratory information management system (LIMS). The ELN follows the scientist and the experiment, and the LIMS follows the sample. A folder of Word documents on the shared drive is something else again, since anyone can change a number in a Word file without leaving a trace, and nobody can sign and lock it.
Take a western blot. The entry opens from the lab's template, so the sample list, antibody dilutions, transfer conditions and exposure times land in the same fields every time. The materials section links to the actual lysates and to the antibody lot, which beats a handwritten lot number that someone has to check against the box later. The raw membrane image goes in as the original file, with the annotated version next to it.
Deviations get written in at the time, the same as on paper. The incubation ran 20 minutes long because someone else had the plate reader, and here is when the plate actually came out. The ELN records when that note was typed, and that timestamp is the first thing a coauthor or an auditor looks at.
When the work is done, the author signs the entry and asks a colleague to witness it. Once witnessed, the entry is locked. A later correction goes in as a documented revision.
Search is the difference people notice in the first month. Finding every experiment that used a particular antibody lot or cell line passage is one query, where on paper it is an afternoon with a stack of notebooks and seventeen folders on the shared drive.
IGOR is a cloud-based electronic lab notebook (ELN) and LIMS in one platform, and its electronic lab notebook is one of seven connected features in the Experiment Hub. Creating an experiment assigns a unique Experiment ID, creates the notebook entry and a dedicated file folder, and connects the entry to inventory, SOPs and templates. Witnessing requests appear in Mission Control, and approved entries are permanently locked.
Usually the PI, and often years later. When a postdoc leaves, their entries stay with the lab, including the lot numbers and the failed runs that never made it into a figure. So when a reviewer asks two years on how a control was prepared, someone can open the entry and answer.
Review changes as well. A PI can read an entry the day it is written, from anywhere, which means a problem with a method shows up while there is still time to repeat the experiment and not at the quarterly flick through a stack of bench notebooks.
For studies conducted under GLP, or work that supports a regulatory submission, an ELN with audit trails and compliant electronic signatures is the practical way to keep those records electronically. Academic labs outside those rules use the same features for invention disclosures and for answering data questions from journals.
Most often at the first routine experiment. If entering a qPCR run or a weekly cell culture passage takes longer than writing it on paper, the paper notebook comes back out of the drawer. So start with the one experiment type the lab runs most and build a template for it. Agree on what every entry must contain before anyone starts typing, including the naming convention and who witnesses whose work. A few weeks of one workflow run fully in the ELN tells a lab more about fit than any feature checklist.
Legacy data is the other sticking point. Most labs don't migrate every old notebook. They scan and index the ones still referenced and start new work in the ELN, and the post on how to migrate lab data from paper to an ELN/LIMS goes through that in detail.
Before committing, check two things in the contract and the software. The lab should be able to export its own records at any time, and the data should belong to the organization rather than to whoever's account it was typed into.
Yes, an electronic lab notebook can serve as the legal record of research if the system keeps an audit trail and supports electronic signatures tied to named users. For FDA-regulated work, 21 CFR Part 11 defines what electronic records and signatures must meet to be treated as equivalent to paper. But the lab's own SOPs and system validation count as much as the software does.
An ELN documents experiments and a LIMS tracks samples. The notebook says what was done and what happened, and the LIMS says where a sample came from and which box it is in. In a platform that combines the two, a notebook entry links straight to the samples it used.
Yes, plenty of labs do during a transition, as long as each experiment has one primary record. A small bench notebook for quick notes works if the notes go into the ELN the same day. Or photograph the page and attach it to the entry.
Start with whether scientists will actually use it for a routine experiment, because adoption decides everything else. After that, check for audit trails, electronic signatures with a witnessing workflow, templates, and export of your own data at any time. If the lab manages samples too, find out whether entries link to inventory or whether you would need a separate LIMS.
In an institutional ELN, the organization owns the data, not the scientist who typed it. Free personal ELN accounts are often tied to the individual, so read the terms before a lab adopts one. Data entered into IGOR belongs to your organization, not to the individual who entered it, so it stays accessible when people leave.