An electronic lab notebook (also known

as electronic laboratory notebook, or ELN) is

a computer program designed to replace
paper laboratory notebooks. Lab notebooks in
general are used by scientists, engineers,
and technicians to
document research, experiments, and procedures
performed in a laboratory.

A lab notebook is often maintained to be a legal

document and may be used in a court of
law as evidence. Similar to an inventor's notebook,
the lab notebook is also often referred to
in patent prosecution and intellectual
property litigation.
Electronic lab notebooks offer many benefits to the
user as well as organizations; they are easier
to search upon, simplify data
copying and backups, and
support collaboration amongst many users. ELNs
can have fine-grained access controls, and can be
more secure than their paper counterparts. They
also allow the direct incorporation of data from
instruments, replacing the practice of printing out
data to be stapled into a paper notebook