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This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the Catalan Government through the Economy and Knowledge Department and the Health Department. This work was also supported by doctoral fellowships from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and "La Caixa" to MIF and HPN, respectively. SG was supported by a post-doctoral fellowship from "Fundacio la Marato de TV3". GD has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 661051.

Analysis of institutional authors

Guerrero, SCorresponding AuthorDujardin GAuthorNadimpalli, HpAuthorInglés-Ferrándiz MAuthorNadimpalli HpAuthorDublanche YCorresponding Author

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March 25, 2020
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Analysis and Implementation of an Electronic Laboratory Notebook in a Biomedical Research Institute

Publicated to:Plos One. 11 (8): e0160428- - 2016-08-01 11(8), DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0160428

Authors: Guerrero, S; Dujardin, G; Cabrera-Andrade, A; Paz-y-Miño, C; Indacochea, A; Inglés-Ferrándiz, M; Nadimpalli, HP; Collu, N; Dublanche, Y; De Mingo, I; Camargo, D

Affiliations

Amer Univ, Fac Ciencias Salud, Inst Invest Biomed, Quito, Ecuador - Author
Barcelona Inst Sci & Technol, Ctr Genom Regulat CRG, Informat & Commun Technol Dept, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Barcelona Inst Sci & Technol, Ctr Genom Regulat CRG, Stem Cells & Canc Programme, Gene Regulat, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Univ Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain - Author
UPF, Barcelona, Spain - Author
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Abstract

Electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs) will probably replace paper laboratory notebooks (PLNs) in academic research due to their advantages in data recording, sharing and security. Despite several reports describing technical characteristics of ELNs and their advantages over PLNs, no study has directly tested ELN performance among researchers. In addition, the usage of tablet-based devices or wearable technology as ELN complements has never been explored in the field. To implement an ELN in our biomedical research institute, here we first present a technical comparison of six ELNs using 42 parameters. Based on this, we chose two ELNs, which were tested by 28 scientists for a 3-month period and by 80 students via hands-on practical exercises. Second, we provide two survey-based studies aimed to compare these two ELNs (PerkinElmer Elements and Microsoft OneNote) and to analyze the use of tablet-based devices. We finally explore the advantages of using wearable technology as ELNs tools. Among the ELNs tested, we found that OneNote presents almost all parameters evaluated (39/42) and both surveyed groups preferred OneNote as an ELN solution. In addition, 80% of the surveyed scientists reported that tablet-based devices improved the use of ELNs in different respects. We also describe the advantages of using OneNote application for Apple Watch as an ELN wearable complement. This work defines essential features of ELNs that could be used to improve ELN implementation and software development.

Keywords

challengeschemistrylabsecurityCloud

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal PLoS One due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2016, it was in position 15/63, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Multidisciplinary Sciences.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from the Field Citation Ratio (FCR) of the Dimensions source, it yields a value of: 6.18, which indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: Dimensions Jul 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-07-25, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 20
  • Scopus: 16
  • Europe PMC: 6

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-07-25:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 141.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 145 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 30.1.
  • The number of mentions on the social network Facebook: 1 (Altmetric).
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 32 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Ecuador.

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (Guerrero Jijon, SANTIAGO XAVIER) and Last Author (Dublanche, YANN).

the authors responsible for correspondence tasks have been Guerrero Jijon, SANTIAGO XAVIER and Dublanche, YANN.