The best electronic lab notebook (ELN): A guide to evaluation

With drug discovery trending towards heightened costs, complexity, and collaboration, finding the best ELN for your R&D organization is more important than ever. But for many scientists and informatics professionals, the electronic lab notebook (ELN) sourcing and evaluation process is complex and murky.

It involves a lot of moving parts without a clear market standard to assess against, and the best ELN for your organization might be very different from another organization's ideal ELN.

Through our market research with heads of IT and research, as well as various industry consultants, we’ve assembled this biology ELN-centric guide to:

1. Outline the process for assessing the need for ELN sofware

2. Provide an overview of the types of ELNs, along with their various benefits

3. Trace the sourcing process through requirements assessment and market research

4. Share industry best practices for vendor evaluation

5. Elaborate on success criteria to ensure ongoing ELN health