GoodLaboratoryNotebookPrac0ces
Atutorialonnotebookbestprac0cesfor
maintainingorganiza0onofdataandresearch
integrityduringtheconductofresearch
CreatedbyOfficeofResearchComplianceandTraining
AspartofReaDIProgram
SupportedbyColumbiaUniversityStandingCommiGeeontheConductofResearch
ThePurposeofthisTutorial
Maintainingalaboratorynotebookisessen0al
foranybodyperformingresearch.Itisameansto
documentworkthatiscompletedinorderto
enablereplica0onandvalida0on.Thistutorialis
designedtoprovidesomebasicinforma0onand
0psforgoodlaboratoryprac0ces.Theseare
merelyguidelines,notpolicies.Youshould
alwayscheckwithyourPIregardingspecific
policies.
Outline
I. 
II. 
III. 
IV. 
V. 
Introduc0ontothelaboratorynotebook
ChoosingaLaboratoryNotebook
Notebooknamingconven0ons
Whatshouldberecordedinthelaboratorynotebook
Whoownsthelaboratorynotebookandintellectual
property
VI.  Laboratorynotebookethics
VII.  Summary
I.WhatisaLaboratoryNotebook?
•  WriGenrecordofprocedures,reagents,data,calcula0ons,thoughts,
explana0ons,andresultsofexperiments
•  Legaldocumentusedtodefendintellectualpropertyand
accusa0onsoffraud
•  Knowledgeforfutureresearchers
•  Thefounda0onofathesisandotherpublica0ons
I.TheEffortSpentisnotWasted
Ittakes0metoproduceaccuratenotebookentries,butitis
worththeeffort--considerfamousscien0stsfromhistory
LeonardoDaVinci
DmitriMendeleev
MarieCurie
ThomasEdison
II.ChoosingaLaboratoryNotebook
•  Paperlaboratorynotebooksshouldhavethefollowingcharacteris0cs:
– 
– 
– 
– 
Hard-cover,s0tchedbinding
Numberedpages
Pagesthatarenoteasilyremoved
Durable
•  Ifchoosinganelectroniclabnotebook(ELN)orusingacombina0onpaper
andelectronic,thefollowingshouldbeconsidered:
– 
– 
– 
– 
– 
– 
– 
– 
Robustnote-takingcapabili0es
Searchable
Embeddataandimagefiles
Linkbetweenpages
Securelogin
Audittrail,including0mestampchangesaremadeandbywhom
Addwitnesssignaturesandlocknotebookpages
Abilitytoexporttoacommonfiletype(exPDF)
•  ColumbiaUniversityhasanenterpriselicensewithLabArchives(anELN
so[ware),learnmoreatlabnotebooks.columbia.edu
Theremainderofthistutorialisinspiredbypapernotebookshoweverthesebest
prac9cescanbeincorporatedintoanyELN
III.NamingYourLaboratoryNotebook
•  Naminglaboratorynotebookallowsfor:
–  Easyiden0fica0ontotheownerofthenotebook
–  Abilitytoeasilyreferencecollecteddatatoacertainnotebookentry
•  Therearemanyprac0cesthatareusedinbothindustryand
academiawhichinclude:
–  Useofname/ini0alsofresearcher
–  Assignmentofanumericoralphabe0ccodetoeachresearcher,
codemaybeuniqueforeachnotebookusedbyresearcher
Prof.Smith’sNotebookCode
Code
Notebookscoded:
AA
AA,AB,&AC
belongto
AB
SciN.Tist
AC
Notebookscoded: AD
AD&AEbelongto
AE
ReaS.Cher
Researcher Code Researcher
SciN.Tist
AF
GradS.Tudent
SciN.Tist
AG
GradS.Tudent
SciN.Tist
AH
GradS.Tudent
ReaS.Cher AI
GradS.Tudent
ReaS.Cher AJ
GradS.Tudent
Notebookscoded:
AF,AG,AH,AI,&AJ
belongto
GradS.Tudent
III.NamingYourLaboratoryNotebook
•  Someresearchgroupsmayhave
establishednotebooknaming
conven0ons,checkwithyourPI
•  Labelyournotebookclearlywithyour
AB
fullnameonthefront
•  Ifusingaboundnotebooklabelthe
S
spine
N
T
•  Duringthecourseofresearch,
mul0plelabnotebooksmaybeused, Notebookcode,
II
iden0fyeachonewitheitherRoman ini0alsofSciN.
Tistandnotebook
Numeralsornumbers
number
Indicatesthenotebook
codeAB,belongstoSciN.
•  Indicatethedatesnotebookisused
Tistandthatitisthe2nd
•  Ifthenotebookisspecifictoa
notebookusedbySci
par0cularproject,includeonthefront
cover
IV.ContentsofLaboratoryNotebook
•  Notebooknameandresearcher(s)itbelongsto
•  Insidecoverorcoverpage
–  Datesused
–  Projectname(s)
–  Theaddressofthelaboratoryorofficeofresearcher
•  Tableofcontents
•  Maintextofnotebook(experimentalrecords)
–  Datesand0tlesofexperiments
–  Ifmul0pleresearchersusingsamenotebook,nameofresearcher
crea0ngnotebookentry
–  Hypothesis/goals/specificaims
–  Backgroundinforma0on
–  Protocols,calcula0ons,reagents,equipmentusedduringexperiments
–  Observa0ons:anythingplannedorunplanned,rawdata,permanently
affixedinforma0onwithreferencetodataloca0on
–  Conclusions
IV.TableofContents
TableofContents
•  Tableofcontentshelpyou(and
Page# Date
TitleofExperiment
presentandfutureresearchers)
1 2/4/2011 SynthesisofFe2O3
quicklyfindpreviousexperiments
nanopar0cles
•  Ifthereisnotaspaceprovidedfor
2
2/5/2011 RamanofFe2O3
atableofcontents,makeyourown
nanopar0cles
withinthefirstfewpagesofthe
3
2/7/2011 SynthesisofRu(bpy)3
notebook
•  Writedownthedateand0tleof
4
experiment
•  Ifcomple0nganexperimentthatis 5
mul0-page,recordtheentryonthe
firstpageused,thenusearrowsto
6
2/9/2011 Calcula0onsfor
showthenumberofpagesdevoted
citricacidbufferpH=6
tothatentry
7
2/9/2011 NMRanalysisof
bypyridineligand
IV.MainTextofNotebook:ExperimentalRecord
•  Whatshouldbeincluded:
–  Objec0ve/purposeofexperiment
–  Plan,outline,orflowdiagram
–  Step-by-stepprocedure,includingcondi0onssuchas
temperature,equipment,reagents,itisimportanttoremember
tobespecific
–  Allimportanttestcondi0ons/parameters
–  Supplementaryinforma0onincludingcita0ons
–  Observa0ons:everythingthatoccurseitherplannedor
unplanned
–  Rawdata,calculateddata,andanytranscribeddata
–  Resultsincludinggraphs,tables,figures,anddataanalysis
(permanentlyaffixedifaprint-out)
–  Units
–  Conclusions:ifobjec0vewasmetand/orsugges0onsforfuture
experiments
IV.DataWithinNotebookEntries
•  Rawdata:originalinforma0on,includinghandwriGennotesand
print-outsfrominstruments
•  Calculateddata:anydatathatisderivedfromacalcula0on,
includeequa0on
•  Transcribeddata:datathatiscopiedfromanothersource,
indicatetheloca0onoftheoriginalcopy
•  Indicateifnumbersarees0matedorexact(ex:~2mLvs2.00
mL)
IV.SupplementalDocuments
•  AGachforms/printoutswitheithertapeorglue,ensuringthatit
remainsintact,andfullyexposed,signanddateprintoutsifrequired
bydisciplineand/orPI
•  Donotcoveranypreviouslyrecordedentries
•  Someresearcherscollectmassamountsofdatainonedayanditis
commontouseaddi0onalmethodsofstoringhardcopiesofdata
–  Three-ringbinders
–  Addi0onalnotebooks
•  Cross-referencetosupplementalsourcesthatcontaincollecteddata
•  Useasimilarnamingconven0onforsupplementalsourcesthatis
easilyreferencedtotheresearcherandnotebooks
•  Useofexternalhard-copydatastoragedoesnotreplacewell-wriGen
notebookentries
IV.UseofAbbrevia0ons
•  Manyabbrevia0onsarecommonandcanbeunderstoodby
researchersinthesamediscipline
•  Someabbrevia0onsarecreatedbytheindividualresearcherto
reducecharactersinsavedfilenamesandsimplifylongnames •  Forabbrevia0onsthatareuniquetotheprojectandregularlyused,
reservethelastfewpagesofthenotebooktodefinethe
abbrevia0ons,orcreateacodebookordatadic0onary
IV.GeneralNotebookHousekeeping
•  Useaninkpentowriteinnotebook
•  Writeasyougo:thelikelihoodof
rememberingaproceduralstep
decreasesas0meelapses
•  Crossoutanyblankspacenotused
(>3lines)
•  Completenotebookentriesin
consecu0vepageorder,avoidblank
pagesorX-outunusedpages,donot
removepages
•  Beginnewexperimentalentriesona
newpage
•  Drawasinglelinethrougherrors,and
writethecorrectinforma0onadjacent
•  Neverusewhite-outtofixerror
•  Sign/dateentries
19August2013
Usingtheprocedureoutlineonpage
15onthisnotebook.
However,using30mL50.0mL
ofacetone(ACSgrade,lot#123)
Observedthesolu0onturnedcloudya[er
30minutess0rring(40rpm)at
roomtemperature(~25°C)
A[er1hourofs0rring,usedroto-vap
At100rpmrota0onwithhotwaterbath
setat35°Ctoremoveextrasolvent
Usedspatulatotransfersolidfromflask
toweighpaperandmassedsolid
Amountofproductcollected:0.0156g
27
08/19/13
V.LaboratoryNotebookOwnership
•  Asaresearcher,itisyourresponsibilitytomaintainyourlaboratory
notebookinaformatthatisintelligibletoyourself,yourPI,andfuture
researchers.Yournotebooksandsupplementalresourcesshouldremain
inthepossessionofyourPIa[erleavingtheUniversity
•  Asafederallyfundedresearchins0tu0on,theUniversitymustassert
ownershipoverresearchdataforprojectconductedattheUniversityor
underitsauspices.(1)ThePIshouldretainpossessionofthedataonbehalf
oftheins0tu0on(2)
•  Collecteddataintheformoflaboratorynotebooksandsupplemental
resourcesareownedbytheUniversityasoutlinedbyregula0onsand/or
sponsorsaswellasintellectualpropertyrights(3-5)
Laboratorynotebooksshouldnotleavethelaboratory
(1)  OMBCircularA-110,Sec.53,Reten'onandAccessRequirementsforRecords
(2)  ManagingExternallyFundedResearchPrograms:AGuidetoEffec'veManagementPrac'ces.CouncilonGovernmental
Rela0ons,July2009
(3)  ColumbiaUniversityOfficeofVicePresidentforResearchSponsoredProjectsHandbook,June2013
(4)  ColumbiaUniversityFacultyHandbook,2008
V.IntellectualProperty
Universitypolicyisasfollows:
“Unlessithasspecificallywaiveditsrights,theUniversityholdsthe
intellectualpropertyrightstopatentableinven0onsanddiscoveries,and
anyassociatedtechnology,thatresultprimarilyfromtheuseofitsfacili0es
orfromtheac0vityofitsofficerswhileengagedinitsservice.Similarly,the
Universityclaimsthecopyrightonanyworkofauthorshipcreatedwiththe
substan0aluseofitsresourcesbeyondthelevelcommonlyprovidedto
faculty,foritsuse,orsubjecttocontractualobliga0onsrequiringthe
copyrightbeinthenameoftheUniversity.”
-FacultyHandbook,2008
•  AlwaysconsultColumbiaTechnologyVenturesaboutany
poten0alpatentableresearch
hGp://techventures.columbia.edu/
•  Laboratorynotebookisproofofintellectualproperty
•  Inlaboratorynotebook,
–  Sign,date,andhaveapersonwitnesstheinven0on
–  Listallco-inventors
VI.LaboratoryNotebookEthics
•  Alldataneedstogointonotebook,eveniftheresultsarebadorthe
experimentfailed
•  Donotremovepagesormistakes.Simplydrawalinethrougherror
andgivecorrec0on.Considerwri0ngini0alanddateofcorrec0on
•  Recordfacts,notopinions(ex:noreac0onoccurredunderthese
experimentalcondi0onsvs.thisreac0onwillneverwork!)
•  Behonest!
VI.Don’tBecomeaSta0s0c
•  Tu[sUniversityimmunologistTherezaImanishi-KariadmiGedthather
poor-recordkeepingledtomisconductallega0onsregardingfalsifica0on
andfabrica0onofdatainher1986paperinCellwithco-authorNobel
LaureateDavidBal0more(1)
•  December2011,apaperaboutSleepApneawasretractedfromtheNew
EnglandJournalofMedicineduetotheauthors’inabilitytolocate
originaldata(2)
•  Asurveyof90majorresearchins0tu0ons’ResearchIntegrityOfficers
showedthat38%of553misconductcasesinvolvessomedegreeofpoor
recordkeeping(3)
•  Ina2007NIHsurveyof1,479researchers,27.5%admiGedto
inadequaterecordkeeping(4)
(1)  Kaiser,J.;Marshal,E.,1996,Imanishi-KariRulingSlamsORI.Science,272,1864-1866
(2)  Retrac0onWatch(hGp://retrac0onwatch.com/2013/10/30/nejm-paper-on-sleep-apnea-retracted-when-original-data-cant-be-found/)
(3)  Wilson,K.;et.al.2007,ResearchRecordsandtheResolu'onofMisconductAllega'onsatResearchUniversi'es.
AccountabilityinResearch,14,57-71
(4)  Shamoo,A.E.;Resnik,D.B.,2009,ResponsibleConductofResearch(2ndEd.).OxfordUniversityPress
VII.Summary
•  AlwayscheckwithyourPIregardingprac0cesthatareappropriate
withintheresearchgroup
•  Thelaboratorynotebookisalegalrecordofexperimentsaswellas
thefounda0onforthesisandpublica0ons
•  Useanamingconven0onthatuniquelyiden0fiesthenotebookto
theresearcher
•  Beasspecificaspossiblewhenwri0ngexperimentalrecords
•  Includealldatathatiscollectedduringthecourseofexperiment,
whennecessaryusesupplementalsourcestostorehard-copiesof
datawithcross-referenceinnotebookentry
•  Honestyisthebestpolicy
References
•  GoodLaboratoryNotebookPrac0ces-MississippiUniversitybyLucy
H.Senter
–  hGp://www.research.msstate.edu/search/index.php?
q=notebook
•  NIHOfficeofIntramuralTrainingandEduca0on’sWebinaron
KeepingaLabNotebook:BasicPrinciplesandBestPrac0cesbyDr.
PhillipRyan
–  hGps://www.training.nih.gov/nih_resources
•  ThomsonJA.2007.HowtoStart—andKeep—aLaboratory
Notebook:PolicyandPrac0calGuidelines.InIntellectualProperty
ManagementinHealthandAgriculturalInnova'on:AHandbookof
BestPrac'ces(eds.AKrazger,RTMahoney,LNelsen,etal.).MIHR:
Oxford,U.K.,andPIPRA:Davis,U.S.A.
–  www.ipHandbook.org
Addi0onalResources
•  ResearchDataManagementTutorial
•  BestPrac'cesforDataManagementWhenUsing
Instrumenta'onTutorial
•  SampleLabelingandStorageTutorial
•  LabArchivesforColumbiaUniversityresearchers:
labnotebooks.columbia.edu
AGribu0onNon-CommercialInterna0onal4.0
CreatedbyMichelleC.Benson,PhD
OfficeofResearchComplianceandTraining
[email protected]