Electronic Laboratory Notebooks in (Neuro-)Psychological Research Environments

Electronic laboratory notebooks (ELN) provide an easy-to-use and customisable digital environment for storing and searching research data, experiments and even projects in a structured form using reusable templates. As a data management and documentation system, it enables collaborative work within teams and across research groups. Furthermore, ELNs are an essential part of the open science initiative and facilitate the documentation, archiving and sharing of data in accordance with the FAIR principles. Yet, the vast number of ELNs on the market (N > 100) makes it challenging to select a suitable solution in terms of their usefulness and applicability to the discipline. The poster presented at the Psychology and Brain Conference aims to provide researchers in (neuro)psychology with a selection of the most common generic ELNs that can be used in the discipline and to highlight their features. Although there are no ELNs specifically designed for psychology, available tools can be easily adapted using templates. Since the most common ELNs are GDPR-compliant, they can be used in psychology without any problems, even though storing sensitive data in ELNs is not recommended. By applying e.g. standardized naming conventions for data entry (such as BIDS), data can be easily reused and shared. The preliminary data from a needs analysis among chemists and biologists at the Berlin University Alliance, which is also presented on the poster (Fig. 3), will be analysed in greater depth and published in a separate publication.