elab2ARC: Bridging Electronic Lab Notebooks to FAIR Digital Objects

In the era of data-intensive science, ensuring that research data adheres to the FAIR principles – Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable – is becoming increasingly important for modern scientific practice [1, 2]. Electronic Lab Notebooks (ELNs) play a central role in this context by enabling the documentation of laboratory workflows and facilitation of local data management [3]. ELNs like eLabFTW [4] are widely used to document experiments in a flexible and user-friendly manner, allowing researchers to capture rich contextual information and attach small datasets. While ELNs like eLabFTW are highly effective for documenting experiments and managing small datasets, they were not initially designed to handle two key aspects of FAIR data stewardship: standardized metadata frameworks and large raw data storage. Manually transforming data from ELNs to fit metadata frameworks is time-intensive and often redundant. To overcome these limitations, we present elab2ARC, a tool that converts eLabFTW experiment data into an Annotated Research Context (ARC), which is a FAIR Digital Object (FDO) - developed by DataPLANT [5]. ARC adapted the git version control system [6] and extends it with domain-specific metadata and workflow structures tailored to the life science. The format enables the standardized and machine-readable representation of experimental context, improving data traceability and reuse. elab2ARC automates the extraction, transformation, and loading of experiment data from eLabFTW using API keys and experiment IDs. The tool maps ELN content into well-defined ARC structures, organizing protocols, metadata, and datasets into reusable research objects. It also supports direct integration with the PLANTdataHUB repositories, enabling seamless synchronization and sharing of ARC packages. Conversion is login-free, can be bookmarked in a browser, and initiated with a single click. elab2ARC leverages the ARCtrl [7] and isomorphic Git [8] for seamless functionality. By streamlining metadata standardization and improving compatibility with data repositories, elab2ARC bridges isolated information islands by serverless single page application. It enables researchers to move beyond isolated ELN records and contribute structured, reusable data to broader scientific infrastructures while minimizing workload in the process. As the Research Data Management (RDM) tools diversity, such conversion tools become crucial, enabling users to seamlessly switch between preferred RDM platforms. We present the design and implementation of elab2ARC, along with use cases from the SFB1535 MibiNet [9]. These demonstrate how the tool facilitates efficient, standardized, and FAIR-aligned data handling from lab bench to repository.