Index

Electronic Lab Notebooks (ELN)

Electronic Lab Notebooks (ELNs) are software applications that are used to document research data and replace paper laboratory books.

ELNs offer several advantages to the paper equivalent:

  • Data findability through search and filter functions
  • Accessibility: Network access regardless of location and time
  • Backup copies of lab notebooks (previous versions can be restored)
  • Reusability of templates, protocols and processes
  • Time savings through templates, standardization and existing digital data
  • Automatic recording of measurement results

The decision to use ELN software should be made carefully, as it is generally used over a long period of time. Important points that should be taken into account in the decision can be found here.

Research data management

According to the definition on the website Forschungsdaten.info, research data management is the process of transforming, selecting and storing research data with the aim of keeping them accessible, usable and verifiable in the long term and independent of the data generator. To this end, structured measures can be taken at all points of the data life cycle to maintain the scientific validity of research data, to preserve accessibility by third parties for evaluation and analysis and to secure the chain of custody.

The practical application and benefits for the researchers are illustrated in the following  video

“Forschungsdaten leben länger” (German)

FAU considers safeguarding and managing research data (RD) as essential for successful and sustainable research and scientific integrity. It is essential that research data are handled responsibly and methodically. If the University, its members and the general public are to benefit, this must not only be encouraged but also made a requirement, and it is important to raise awareness of research data and FAIR principles in the long term. See FAU Research Data Policy.

 

Research data

According to the definition on the website Forschungsdaten.info, research data are data generated during scientific activity (e.g. through measurements, surveys, source work).

This definition applies to both newly generated and processed data, regardless of whether these data are incorporated into a publication and whether they are available in analog or digital form. Research data form the basis of scientific work.

This results in the need for a discipline and project-specific understanding of research data with different requirements for the preparation, processing and management of the data: this is known as research data management.

Research data and their metadata are explained simply in this video using the example of squirrel research.

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Personal data

Personal data is any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. It should be noted that this also applies if a person can be identified indirectly. Since May 25, 2018, the Federal Data Protection Act (Germany) and the GDPR (EU) apply. Both laws deal with data protection and privacy.

Further information on this topic can be found on the FAU Data Protection page and here.