Sharing is Caring: Guidelines for Sharing in the Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) Chemotion as applied by a Synthesis-oriented Working Group

Abstract

The documentation and storage of experimental data is crucial in research data management and science in general. With regard to automated data curation and the generation of data for machine learning processes, the collection and sharing of machine-readable data, including negative results, is a key step. The electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) Chemotion provides the possibility to share synthesis data with other researchers taking the mentioned aspects into account. In these guidelines, we offer general information on how to share data in Chemotion and present our sharing policy as a best practice example on how to use Chemotion’s sharing functions in a working group with several group members on various hierarchy levels.

Results of a Three-Year Survey on the Implementation of Research Data Management and the Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) Chemotion in an Advanced Inorganic Lab Course

“…They can do so by reading the online documentation of the ELN 56 or using the specific manuals and explanatory videos provided to them via the lab course's instance of the open source learning platform Moodle (RWTHmoodle). 59 After the first year of implementation, those manuals and videos were thoroughly revised and supplemented with general short videos 57,58 on the basic functions of the ELN (see discussion on the survey results down below). This update of the instructional materials should ensure optimized and up-to-date information delivery to the students.…”

“…Furthermore, the ELN provides a feature to share entries and data with other users, e.g., between a student and an assistant in the lab course. 55 An online documentation guide 56 and explanatory videos 57,58 help beginners to start using the ELN software.…”

“…Meanwhile, general short videos on the basic functions of the ELN were recorded and provided to the students, which are now publicly available. 57,58 With the improved teaching materials, even more students think that the instructions and instruction types are sufficient (Figure S7, S8, and S9). Finally, the students were asked to state their general opinion on using the ELN during the lab course.…”

Minimum Information Standards in Chemistry: A Call for Better Research Data Management Practices

“…This workflow is already possible in the Chemotion Repository where data and their metadata are easily transferred to from the Chemotion ELN instance [36] . Chemotion‐ELN is user‐friendly, accessible under an open access licence, allows interoperable transfer of data to the repository and is currently operatively used in several institutions [37] . Many more ELNs offer fine data organisation and some also seamless transfer to repositories [38, 39] …”

Mindestinformationsstandards in der Chemie: Ein Appell zum besseren Umgang mit Forschungsdaten

“…Dieser Arbeitsablauf ist bereits im Chemotion‐Repositorium möglich, in das Daten und ihre Metadaten einfach von der Chemotion‐ELN‐Instanz übertragen werden können [36] . Das Chemotion‐ELN ist benutzerfreundlich, unter einer Open‐Access‐Lizenz zugänglich, ermöglicht die interoperable Übertragung von Daten in das Repositorium und wird derzeit in mehreren Einrichtungen eingesetzt [37] . Viele weitere ELNs bieten ebenfalls eine gute Datenorganisation und einige auch einen nahtlosen Transfer zu Repositorien [38, 39] …”