The "User Management" menu in LabArchives allows you to add and manage users for the entire notebook. The Owner and Administrator can access this feature and manage user roles for an individual's notebook. To access this feature and assign an administrator, please follow the directions included below.

• Click the triple bar icon in the top right and select "Notebook Settings."
• Click on the second tab, "User Management."
• At the top right-hand corner, click on the "Add User" Icon and simply enter the email for the person you wish to add to the notebook.
• Once you click on the "Add User" button, you will see their name appear in the section below, where you can manage their role.
• In the "Role" Field, please select "Administrator" from the drop-down menu options.

Please note that an administrator has the same rights as the owner, but they cannot delete or clone a notebook.

For more information on "Managing Users in a Notebook," please visit the LabArchives' knowledge base.

All content in your notebook can be shared with others. You can share with anyone else who has an email address and/or internet connection, whether or not they already have a LabArchives account. As an Owner or Administrator, you can access the share feature in 3 different ways. LabArchives allows you to share an entire notebook, a folder, a page, and/or a specific entry. Please see below for details on how to share your notebook.

• Under the "Notebook Navigator," you can "right click" on the notebook, folder or page name and click on "Share."
• Regardless if you are sharing a Notebook, folder, page or an entry, the "Share" dialog box will pop up on the screen giving you a variety of options to select from.
• The "Invite People" tab allows you to share notebook content via an email invite. On this tab, you can input the email address or addresses of those you want to share with, add your own subject, and create your own message for the share email. You can type in the entire user's full email address or select from a suggested list by clicking the drop down menu option.
  • Choose if you want them "To edit" or "To view" below the box for the email address.
• Once you have made your selections, click "send."

For more information on how to share notebooks with other users, please visit the "Sharing Overview" and "Managing Users in a Notebook" on the LabArchives' website.

Please note that UVA faculty, students and staff members must submit a request for a LabArchives account, and confirm their account, before they will be able to accept an invite to see a shared notebook. 

LabArchives ELN was designed to maintain the security of research data while providing a means to safely share data following institution and funder requirements. They are actively working to create and evolve solutions that meet the NIH 2023 Data Sharing requirements and guidelines. For more information, please see the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy Overview.

A DOI is indexed, in perpetuity, by the International DOI Foundation, of which LabArchives is a member. While URLs may change or disappear, a DOI is a permanent way to share your data. Please follow the directions included below to create a DOI.

• To create a DOI for some content in your notebook, right-click that item in the "Notebook Navigator" and click "Publish Data."
• Next select “Publish via LabArchives.” 
• If creating a DOI of an entry or page, to show the content in its current state, select “This page/entry as it exists now.” To share the most updated version of this content select “the most recent version of this page/entry.” 
  • If creating a DOI of a folder, the DOI will link to the most recent version of this folder automatically.
• Select a Creative Commons License for your content. 
• By checking the appropriate boxes, you can allow viewers to see earlier or later versions of your data. This feature provides for a "dynamic" publication of a dataset, so that a reader may first see the data as it stood at publication, but also past and future history of these data.
• You can customize the Author, Title, Publisher, Data Management Plan ID, and Grant/Funding ID fields.
  • There are several fields available when adding an author: Author name, ORCID, and a checkbox to determine if this individual is a PI. There is also an option to add co-authors. Click ‘Add co-author(s)’ and another Author, ORCID, PI field will appear.
• When you are ready to create the DOI click “Create DOI and Publish.” 
  • After a few moments, the screen will appear as shown below with your new DOI.

For more information on how to create and manage your DOI, please visit the "Creating a DOI" and "Sharing with a URL" on the LabArchives' website. 

LabArchives is an excellent platform for storing and organizing various data, including notes, observations, and files. However, large or frequently used data may be stored outside of LabArchives for efficiency, with clear references or links to their locations. These links and references must be reliable for long-term access.

Best practices for referencing external data include using consistent, descriptive file names and paths, documenting team-wide file naming policies, and including metadata for easy retrieval. It's important to avoid renaming or moving files to prevent broken links, and versioning information should be captured. Also, ensure proper data ownership and access management to avoid access issues.

When linking to data within LabArchives, unique Share URLs can be used and will remain functional even if files are renamed or moved. You can create references using rich text entries or the Links tool to link to external systems like Google Drive or Dropbox. Additionally, file paths can be displayed, but accessing them might require specific browser settings for security reasons.

Additional information on how to work with large data sets and data stored outside of LabArchives can be found here. 

A lab notebook establishes a permanent record detailing what was done during the course of a project.  Laboratory notebooks can also serve as a source for assigning credit to lab members, addressing concerns related to scientific misconduct or invention derivation, and establishing a researcher’s inventive contribution to a patentable technology.

Research Notes

Records must be sufficiently detailed and clear to allow “someone skilled in the art” to recreate the work and to conduct additional work without the direct assistance of the original researcher. Document what was done, why it was done, who suggested it, who did it, when it was done, what the results were (positive or negative), what conclusions were drawn, and future plans.

All details of a project should be recorded, including raw data and final results of experiments, protocols and designs of experiments, calculations, details of equipment use and a key to any abbreviations used. Include data from recording instruments, drawings, photographs, charts, etc. Record all research and developmental efforts, including ideas generated during meetings, and the source of the ideas.  Record dates when an idea was conceived and when work on the idea was started and completed. Notebook entries should ideally be made on the same day as the event, or as soon thereafter as possible (and indicate when the actual work was done). Record plans for future experiments.

Be factual! Avoid any negative comments concerning the project or the results of an experiment and comments reflecting the nature, quality, or utility of the results of a research project. Document when, where, and to whom your research is presented. Researchers can share laboratory notebooks as long as each researcher fulfills their responsibility of signing, dating and obtaining witnesses for laboratory notebook pages with their research entries.

Electronic Data

If data are maintained electronically, consider that electronic records/notebooks must achieve the same objectives as hard copy laboratory notebooks (see above).  Electronic records must credibly document a researcher’s work in sufficient detail, including the date of creation, the content when created and the details related to any subsequent amendments, and the records must be reproducible in human readable form.  Most court cases don’t occur until many years after the electronic record creation, so record management considerations are critical, including issues such as file storage and software maintenance.

When developing a system for research records that includes (wholly or in part) electronic records, please consider the following criteria, as they affect the viability and credibility of research records:

• Permanency of records: archive in electronic or paper form?
• Amended records: can you tell what was changed, when, and by whom? Is it possible to access and read the old versions?
• Security: have the records been altered/compromised? Are they safe from disasters and protected against loss?
• Identity management: who created a record and made any changes? Can records be signed and witnessed?
• Are the file locations permanent? Could a linked file be changed? Will the link be reliable or could the link be broken?
• Where is data stored? Personal laptops or lab/department computers? If using a service, are data stored inside or outside the US? Cloud-based (where)?
• Would the use of the specific software affect ownership of the data?

Labs/researchers may be obligated to comply with data management requirements from institutions, funding agencies, sponsors, etc.

Having a backup and archival plan for all your digital work, including your lab notebooks on the ELN platform, is always recommended. While the LabArchives service has a record of high availability, there are some scenarios in which you could lose access to your notebooks temporarily. Also, most researchers need to retain their notebooks for several years, so having a process for archiving notebooks that are completed is important. The strategies below will help you create a backup and archival plan that takes several scenarios into account:

• Routinely place a secondary copy of all files you attach to the ELN in another location such as a department or University server. You may find it helpful to use the same folder structure as in the ELN to avoid confusion.
• Export (PDF) or create offline copies (HTML) of notebooks on a regular basis. For notebooks that are being actively edited, establish a schedule of exporting that will keep pace with your changes.

Lab members are able to generate an HTML and PDF copy of a notebook they have been given access to. Users can also be given view-only Guest access to the notebook for as long as the PI wishes. Since the PI (or faculty member) must be the owner of all notebooks at UVA, notebooks cannot disappear when a team member leaves the university. For more information on how to manage the transfer of data when an individual leaves, please see "RES-002: Ownership, Retention, Safeguarding, Management, and Transfer of Research Records."

To learn more about how to create an offline version of your notebook or download a PDF copy, please see the following resources:

• Create Offline Notebook
• Download your Notebook to PDF