Germans Universities Face ELN Threat
In the realm of laboratory work, Electronic Lab Notebooks (ELNs) have become indispensable, offering a seamless digital workflow from planning to publication without media discontinuity. Now, as of August 2025, there may be additional centrally operated ELNs beyond those offered by universities in Germany, Max Planck Institutes, and the academic cloud of the Gesellschaft für wissenschaftliche Datenverarbeitung mbH Göttingen.
This information, made available by Theo Bender, does not advocate for any specific ELN service but serves as a testament to the growing availability of centralized ELNs for researchers worldwide.
For instance, LabArchives is a globally accessible cloud-based ELN solution that caters to lab notebook management, protocols, and research data. Similarly, SciNote, developed by BioSistemika, offers features for experiment documentation, team collaboration, and basic inventory management. Labguru, owned by Titian Software, provides a user-friendly ELN and LIMS, while L7 Notebooks (part of the L7|ESP Unified Platform) captures both structured and unstructured data for research and process development. Lastly, Benchling, while not explicitly centralized, is a widely used cloud-based platform for research data management, including ELN capabilities, and is accessible globally.
Universities in Lower Saxony benefit from the academic cloud of the Gesellschaft für wissenschaftliche Datenverarbeitung mbH Göttingen, where an ELN is offered to all researchers from Lower Saxony. Max Planck Institutes, on the other hand, have access to a central installation of an ELN at the Max Planck Centre.
This development is significant for individuals or institutions involved in laboratory work seeking centralized ELN solutions. However, the location or type of the potential new centrally operated ELNs remains undisclosed.
As the landscape of ELNs continues to evolve, it is essential to keep abreast of new developments. If you are aware of any new centrally operated ELNs that may not be currently known, please report them to helpdesk@our website.
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Technology advances in education-and-self-development have led to an expansion of Electronic Lab Notebooks (ELNs), with more options available for researchers beyond those provided by universites in Germany, Max Planck Institutes, and the academic cloud of the Gesellschaft für wissenschaftliche Datenverarbeitung mbH Göttingen. Among these are LabArchives, SciNote, Labguru, L7 Notebooks, and Benchling, all of which offer various features for lab notebook management, experiment documentation, team collaboration, and research data management. On the other hand, the location or type of the potential new centrally operated ELNs remains undisclosed.
