Information for Researchers

Information for Researchers

General Information

• Laboratory Notebooks (LNs) belong to EMBL.
• Scientists are responsible for maintaining their notebooks in good order while they are actively using them.
• When leaving EMBL, all notebooks must be handed over to the Group/Team Leader (GTL) for safekeeping.

Physical Laboratory Notebooks

• All labbooks must be stickered and registered to the Smartsheet Registry with the attached QR code.
• Stickers can be collected from the site’s designated contact point:
  • Heidelberg: EMBL Archive.
  • Barcelona: Alexandre Robert Moreno, Facilities Manager.
  • EMBL Grenoble: Nicolas Fortunato, Administrative Officer: Finance, Purchasing and Procurement.
  • EMBL Hamburg: Margret Fischer, Administration Operations Manager.
  • EMBL Rome: Angela Quaglietta, HR Liaison and Administrative Officer.
  • EMBL-EBI: Andrew Cornell, Facilities Manager.
• Scientists must hand in their labbooks to their GTL (or responsible staff member) when they leave EMBL.
• A reminder email will be sent one month before the end of contract date used in the labbook registration form.

Electronic Laboratory Notebooks

• Scientists are encouraged to use LabID, EMBL’s recommended system for secure and reliable electronic recordkeeping.
• All work with eLNs should follow:
  • EMBL’s Open Science guidelines.
  • EMBL policies on data protection and information security.
• Before leaving EMBL, scientists must:
  • Ensure their GTL has access to their eLN records.
  • Confirm that basic metadata standards are in place (Name, Group Name, Dates).

Information for GTLs

General Information

• Laboratory Notebooks (LNs) belong to EMBL.
• During active use, scientists are responsible for maintaining their own notebooks, but GTLs should endeavour to encourage appropriate practices.
• When a scientist leaves EMBL, GTLs take responsibility for the notebooks for as long as the group remains active.
• All LNs under the GTL’s responsibility must be transferred to the EMBL Archive when the group leaves.

Physical Laboratory Notebooks.

• GTLs must fill out a transfer form.
• The LNs can then be transferred to the EMBL Archive via your site’s dedicated contact point:
  • Heidelberg: EMBL Archive.
  • Barcelona: Alexandre Robert Moreno, Facilities Manager.
  • EMBL Grenoble: Nicolas Fortunato, Administrative Officer: Finance, Purchasing and Procurement.
  • EMBL Hamburg: Margret Fischer, Administration Operations Manager.
  • EMBL Rome: Angela Quaglietta, HR Liaison and Administrative Officer.
  • EMBL-EBI: Andrew Cornell, Facilities Manager.
• The EMBL Archive will confirm receipt of the LNs and return a signed transfer form.

Electronic Laboratory Notebooks.

• Groups are encouraged to use LabID, EMBL’s recommended system for secure and reliable electronic recordkeeping.

• If using LabID, GTLs can simply notify the LabID team of their group’s departure, and they will handle the transfer of your eLNs.
  • Then complete a Transfer Form and send it to the archive.
• If using eLabJournal, export your group’s eLNs using the instructions on the eLabJournal website.
  • Then send the eLNs to the Archive via EMBL’s OwnCloud, complete a transfer form and send it to the archive.
• If using another eLN, refer to the Standard Operating Procedure document for more information regarding our export formats and metadata standards.
  • Then send the eLNs to the Archive via EMBL’s OwnCloud, complete a transfer form and send it to the archive.

We strongly recommend the use of LabID. As shown above, the process of archiving eLNs is simplified both for GTLs and for the archive.