Lab notebook

Lab notebook is a authoritative legal document, containing a detailed record of what, when, and how was done in the process of scientific research. Keeping it is required by most laboratories. It is important to clearly understand the purpose of a lab notebook and know how to make the most out of it.

• Keep a detailed record of your thoughts, hypotheses, methods, and results. A good question to keep in mind: is your research fully reproducible based on your lab notebook?
• Lab notebook is a legal document used in case of disputes, for example, related to patents and authorship
• It belongs to the lab, not the person maintaining it (although, you can keep your own separate notebook as well)
• Lab notebook is indispensable for remembering what you did several months or years ago, reproducing results, writing papers and theses, and sharing information with your colleagues
• Lab notebook needs to be well organized and maintained on a daily basis
• Here are more thoughts on the lab notebook

Lab notebooks can be paper or electronic. Each has its own benefits and shortcomings.

Electronic

• Readability does not depend on the quality of handwriting
• Easy to search regardless of the document size
• Easy to share with colleagues
• Always with you (if kept in the cloud)
• Easy to input complicated and long data (especially generated by computers)
• Can keep a full record through time by using a version control system
• Fast to make entries
• Easier to guard against loss, damage, and aging

Here is an example of an electronic lab notebook.

Pen and paper

• More reliable in cases of legal disputes (although this might change as laws mature)
• Easy to sketch out graphs and diagrams (although this can be done in drawing software + a link to the resulting image in an electronic notebook)
• Encourages scientific integrity by making it hard to "rewrite history" (can be solved for an electronic notebook by employing a version control system)
• Easy to ensure one master copy (can be solved for an electronic notebook by employing a version control system)
• The slowness of writing and using paper encourage more deliberation