Decision-making criteria for an ELN
Criteria for selecting an ELN
In some cases, electronic lab notebook solutions address different target groups. On the one hand, we have users who want to use a digital laboratory documentation system that is as simple as possible; and on the other, we have researchers who work intensively with data and who consider both subsequent use and interoperability to be decisive criteria.
This page contains a detailed overview of the electronic lab notebooks available at FAU.
Individual criteria
Criteria in bold italic type are important characteristics for research data management for funding providers such as the DFG.
| Criterion | elabFTW | openBIS | NOMAD Oasis | Labfolder |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| License | open source | open source | open source | commercial |
| Invoicing type | Team/group | Team/group | Team/group | Single user 120 euros per year[1] |
| Billing interval | once/project | once/ project | once/project | Every six months |
| FAIR principles | yes | yes | yes | no |
| Publishing of data | yes | yes | yes | no |
| Link to NFDI | yes | yes | yes | no |
| Structured data collection | yes | yes | yes | no |
| Data lineage support | no[2] | yes | yes | no |
| Administration complexity | low | high | high | low |
| Simplicity/Type of user interface | simple | complex | complex | simple |
| Teaching (can be used by a large number of students) | yes | yes | yes | no |
| API | in full | in full | in full | limited, users only |
| Data storage | Database | Database | File-based, real folder structure remains intact | Database |
| Integrated tools | yes, e.g. JupyterHub | yes, e.g. JupyterHub | ||
| Time stamp | RFC3161, Bloxberg | RFC3161 | yes | |
| Integrated inventory management | no | yes | no | no |
| Programming experience necessary | no | no | in some cases | no |
| Central instance available at FAU | yes | yes[3] | yes[4] | yes |
| Local instances possible at FAU | yes | yes | yes | no |
| Log-in method | SSO/IDM[5] | SSO/IDM[5] + local log-in | SSO/IDM[5] | UKER ID and SSO/IDM[5] |
| Data export options (standardized ELN format) | yes | no[6] | no[6] | no[7] |
| Interoperability with other ELN | yes | yes | yes | no |
| Suitable for personal data | no | no | no | no[8] |
| Data storage location | FAU/RRZE | FAU/RRZE | FAU/RRZE | Cloud Labforward GmbH |
| Technical support | FAU CDI | FAU CDI | FAU CDI | MIK (UK Erlangen) |
| Content-related support | FAU CDI | FAU CDI | FAU CDI | – |
| Official documentation | eLabFTW’s documentation | OpenBIS documentation | NOMAD documentation | Labfolder guide |
Please let us know via email if you require other ELN solutions (e.g Chemotion): forschungsdaten@fau.de.
[1] Declining costs for over 2000 accounts (no further charges for additional accounts above this number, which means costs for single licenses go down). The Faculty of Medicine currently provides a 50% subsidy, which means the annual costs per license are 60 euros (as of March 20, 2024).
[2] Currently being increased in order to meet the requirements of funding providers.
[3] Basic data model only Requirements specific to disciplines only possible with local instances.
[4] Central instance primarily for familiarization purposes. Specialist requirements usually demand a local instance.
[5] Edugain/DFN-AAI is in planning.
[6] All data exported together as a ZIP archive.
[7] Data can only be exported as a HTML page or PDF document. Change log can only be accessed via web interface. Please note that access to the data stored in Labfolder is only provided for as long as the license fee is paid.
[8] Only staff at Universitätsklinikum are permitted to store and use pseudonymized data sets in Labfolder.