eLabJournal Reviews

Functionality and Superb Customer Support

Comments: Our overall experience with eLab Journal has been exceptional. We are glad we chose to partner with them because they were definitely the right choice! They have helped us immensely and we would not have achieved a successful project outcome without them.

Pros:

Working with the team at eLab Journal to implement our LIMS and make enhancements as our laboratory has grown has been a wonderful experience. Everyone we have worked with is responsive and collaborative. The software itself has amazing functionality and provides the features we need to act as an efficient, high throughput testing laboratory.

Cons:

When we implemented the software in 2020, some of the menu items and navigation seemed disjointed and not exceptionally intuitive. eLab Journal has evolved since then and we have seen improvements. The team is also open to our feedback as system users.

Keeping Track of the Research

Comments: This has been a great experience. At first had only planned to use for single aspect of research project and now pushing for us to incorporate into other areas. Customer support has been excellent. Always quick to respond when have questions or requests, and so very willing to work with us to customize the system to our needs.

Pros:

Although there was a learning process to using the system, it did not take more than a week for us to build the framework that needed for managing samples and recording experimental data. Have multiple users with different levels of comfort with technology and hearing more and more from group that so glad that set this up for this research project. Really appreciate that Microsoft Office integrated into system, not only for editing files but as sections within a entry. This has allowed users that do not have access to office to work with us with ease

Cons:

Lacking some options that know are available on other electronic notebook freeware (To Do Lists, Task assignment, Calendar, Messaging center, view only of integrating Microsoft office components, comment tracking, tags for indexing entries). One option that would love to have that seen in other electronic notebook software is the option to share study with outside user so can view (not edit) for defined period of time without using a licensed space. Would be happy if there was a limit on how many of these could exist at a time

Alternatives Considered: Labguru

Reasons for Choosing eLabJournal: Needed a inventory system that allowed better handling of aliquots and lineage. The permission management system was better for the needs of the group. And that hardly anything is every truly gone, can track history of pretty much everything.

Switched From: Labfolder

Reasons for Switching to eLabJournal: The customer service, the rep who set up our demo provided such good information. Was impressed that during the demo period (which was a month), he not only respond well to our questions but took our feedback and entered as requests for modification of the system. Demonstrated to us that would work with us to help us use the system to fit our particular needs

Online journal

Comments: Better for the environment and also don't have to worry about losing/spilling stuff on lab notebook.

Pros:

Once again it allows for easy access to other lab mates by simply sharing it with them. No issues with legibility or whatever.

Cons:

Takes a while getting used to actually typing in experiments, protocols, data, etc. but it can be more convenient than conventional paper.

eLab has helped manage a veritable flood of samples

Comments: Overall, I'm very pleased with eLab. It has greatly streamlined the tracking of sample receipt and downstream processing for thousands of samples, allowing me to set up standard procedures that even novice undergraduate students can follow without difficulty. Likewise, the pricing was very competitive and the team at eLab has been very responsive and pleasant to work with.

Pros:

This product has greatly facilitated the standardization of sample intake and inventory. Likewise, I really appreciate the ability to set up lab protocols (with version tracking) and standardized experiment templates. These features, in particular, make it easy to bring on new lab helpers in an undergraduate setting. There is no need to manage and track shared files or folders, and when a student leaves, their records and activities are preserved. The interface has generally been quite intuitive and easy to maneuver, and customer support is responsive and helpful if a user runs into problems.

Cons:

There are still a few glitchy (largely aesthetic) areas. For example, the "Lineage" button appears to multiply as one clicks on or manipulates successive sample records. This can be resolved by refreshing the page, but it is not guaranteed that you will remain on the same sample record when you refresh. This doesn't seem to impact the integrity of sample records, but can be annoying when working with a lot of sample records. There is not yet a function to create copies of plates of samples (e.g., whole-plate aliquots, series, or downstream product). One can work around this with batch importation, but I do look forward to this feature eventually being incorporated.

Alternatives Considered: Benchling and SciNote

Reasons for Switching to eLabJournal: eLab offered a combined electronic lab journal and inventory tracking/management platform that was both intuitive and economical.

6 month of eLAB and don't want to miss it anymore

Pros:

We're working with several microorganisms and getting them organized into easily trackable collections are a big plus for us. In general we're using the customizable samples a lot, also for tracking individual fermentation batches. Together with the barcoding feature, tracking and identifying samples has become really straight forward. Another great feature is the collaborative approach we can use, when we work on different projects. Everybody in the team can contribute with individual experiments and still everything is organized into the same project/study, which makes tracking the overall progress really easy.

Cons:

One of the things that certainly need some improvement is the data-management system. You can store data within experiments and in a dedicated file-storage system, but these are not interconnected (at least not that I know). And to work with the file-storage is also not the most straight forward way to organize your files. A little more database management functionality here could go a long way.

Alternatives Considered: Labfolder

Reasons for Switching to eLabJournal: Labfolder has a very bad reputation for being rather slow and most importantly unstable.

eLABJournal improves your data management

Comments: My overall experience with eLABJournal is very positive. It definitely improves my data management and it has a lot of benefits when you collaborate with colleagues and students. I definitely recommend this to any wet-lab scientist!

Pros:

Having worked with eLabjournal for nearly 3 year, I definitely learned to appreciate its overall function for data management. You collect everything (e.g. data, protocol, notes, analysis, conclusions) in one software and you have everything accessible with a few clicks. Furthermore, I enjoy the Inventory a lot, as I can easily find back all my samples quickly.

Cons:

As with any new system, in the beginning it takes some time to get used to the navigation in eLabjournal. Logically also the structure is different than in a "diary-like" hard-copy lab book.

eLabJournal helps to established a better workflow and standarised the lab work

Pros:

Integration of the system is the daily work at the company has been decently easy. It takes a bit of time to make the transition but once it is in place, every step of the lab day becomes much mechanical and you are always sure that all the data is trackable and well organized. Samples, materials used, materials generated, protocols, and calculations are always available and referencable which allows higher performance and efficiency of the workers.

Cons:

It is not too flexible in terms of moving through the steps, you always have to save before you move on even if you are inside the same experiment. It would be nice if in the supplies- orders it could reference a PO number or integrate the items in shopping batches.

Alternatives Considered: Labstep

Online Journal

Pros:

Switching from traditional paperback lab notebooks to online journaling is an overwhelming task in itself, but eLabJournal simplifies the process of writing, peer-reviewing, and signing off experiments/studies. Entries are accessible when needed to be shared with other laboratories or departments and with the eLabInventory integration, it's easier to keep track of and know the components of an experiment. An amazing feature is the ability to attach files and to link other experiments within an entry, this eases the need to manage local folders for various users since they are downloadable anytime (and anywhere). Their superb customer service needs praise on its own. They have knowledgeable people who are quick to help and go beyond in explaining things and even accommodate the needs of our lab, both in research and operations.

Cons:

An entry can only be signed-off by a single person which makes it tricky for experiments or studies that needs both internal and quality reviews. eLabInventory is glitchy when there's a lot of back-to-back updates or additions made in the system.

eLJ strongly increases productivity, some room for improvement

Comments: We use eLJ in quasi-GLP mode, with witnessing and a strict SOP for documenting. Overall very high improvement in productivity since we introduced it.

Pros:

- traceability of data, search function, easy to do forensics on what went wrong in an experiment - clear structure into projects, studies and experiments - basic functionality very easy to use, reliable - much faster than paper lab journal - collaboration of scientists across different locations

Cons:

- some functions cumbersome to use, e.g. bulk imports and especially exports of inventory or products - picture editing function very rudimentary, hardly usable - moving of experiments between projects or studies cumbersome

ELN and more

Comments: This software caters to the small biotech co's by providing a single solution ELN that integrates data and inventory management. As such, the pricing is in an very effective position to enable those same small biotech companies to acquire and use their software efficiently. Great customer support and service, this offers an appreciable and competitive value. This software is very good and taking in data, especially as a PDFs. Probably among one of the best ELNs out there. Unfortunately it's not a 'do-everything' solution, and does have some quirks. It would also better help these smaller co's that use it through implementing a less expensive 'module' add-in service that could pull from vendors like Fisher/VWR. This would allow for easier inventory management, and wouldn't require expensive custom solutions smaller companies wouldn't be able to afford anyway.

Pros:

The ELN is easy to start using from ground zero. Many features are intuitive, and easy to navigate. Organization is implemented nicely, and searchable.

Cons:

Frequent users will start to see issues with flexibility in correcting erroneous details of entries (not yet finalized), or setting up high-functioning templates for repeated experiments. More advanced features to integrate into ordering/inventory management are not modular add-ons, and treated as more expensive custom solutions.

More than just documentation

Comments: Elabjournal enforces high-quality documentation and the rigid structure of Project > Study > Experiment with the definition of aims and sub-aims helps to break complex problems into simpler tasks.

Pros:

In my personal experience, elabjournal did not only improve the structure of my documentation, it also improved experiment planning, design and execution.

Cons:

table or list based viewing and editing can be a pain. E.g. entering many new samples to the inventory for largely overlapping yet different properties is a time consuming task.

eLAB Journal is a great tool for any kind of research lab

Comments: eLAB is definitely keeping everything from project planning, data, and inventory very organized and very accessible. The customer service from the company is also great. We had someone come to our lab to help us implement the system and are happy with the level of responsiveness from the company when you have a question or problem.

Pros:

The ability to easily track inventory, whether it be samples, chemicals, or freezer space. We also like ability to have central storage for our data that is easily accessible.

Cons:

The interface to print labels is very hard to use. You have to create code to make the labels, I was expecting a much easier setup since the rest of eLAB is so easy to use. We also wish that there was a way to create fillable data sheets in the system that was not just directly importing from excel.

Replace the paper notebook

Pros:

eLabJournal is an easy and efficient way to replace the paper notebook. It's really user friendly. We use also a lot the inventory and it is convenient to link samples to experiment.

Cons:

The most feature that could be improved is the way to add samples in experiment (in used/generated samples section). Indeed, when we search the sample, it's only in the browser, so we need to know the location of the sample and we can only add samples located in a same box at a time. If we could add a sample in experiment by searching a sample in the same way that we can search a sample in the Inventory -> sample list section, it could be really easy to add samples.

Highly Recommend

Comments: We have been using eLAB for about 6 months now and it has greatly improved our organization and efficiency. My favorite part is having the COA and QC documents pertaining to each individual antibody/protein all in one place. Shortly our company will be kicking off a 1,250 patient clinical trial and eLAB is going to be an integral part of managing the study. eLAB is very customizable and capable of meeting many different needs, I’m sure that with continued use we will discover even more features that will help improve our work flow. Additionally the eLAB team is incredibly responsive and easy to work with. Thanks for the help getting us going and answering all of our questions.

Pros:

I really appreciate how many ways you can customize the software to meet different needs.

Cons:

As of right now I can't think of anything.

This is the best!

Pros:

ELab is the most straightforward system we found. We paid for a different system, but despite trying to understand how to use it, we remained deeply frustrated. We checked out several systems; it was an easy decision to change to eLab one we tried it. The best part of eLab was the help from the support person, [SENSITIVE CONTENT]. It would be impossible to even begin to explain how much patience he had. He spent time between our calls considering our work and designing a template that would work for us. I had been unable to fully explain what I had in mind, but [SENSITIVE CONTENT] designed something that was exactly what I wanted (but couldn't explain). Whether you are involved in research with multiple layers of overlapping data or are tracking daily changes in a single study, this software can get you what you need...on the simpler end of that, it can be difficult to find a system that will work for you. The system, the support staff, and the price are all wonderful.

Cons:

There is absolutely no downside to this system. There is nothing to not like.

Best value for money ELN

Pros:

- cloud based - easy to set up - mobile phone/app integration - sync of photos from mobile phone - servers in Europe

Cons:

- no chemdraw integration - copy/paste works not flawlessly - not fully customizable

Easy to work

Pros:

I like this software because it is easy to work with and keeps things very organized and clean. It is also easy to share with others.

Cons:

I would like to hand-write directly on the document to have it like paper notebook. There are some differences in mobile app and the website. I would like to have similar features for mobile and desktop app.

Very good electronic lab journal

Pros:

I have used eLab Journal for nearly two years, it has very good user interface and easy options to maintain a electronic lab journal. it has handy app that you can upload everything from your mobile and access your data in your laptop! you can also keep track of your samples, location, share data with other users etc.

Cons:

Although it has user friendly interface, it still needs some improvement to make it more user friendly.

eLABJournal ELN user-experience

Pros:

The eLabJournal software was incredibly fast set-up, everything was ready in two days. Very nice customer service in that sense. The included inventory software is very useful in order to track your stocks. Especially when this is not set up yet for your group/lab. It allowed us to combine different projects into one overview. With general good accessibility and user-friendliness.

Cons:

The adjustable tables that calculate how many you need of a certain component are not really straightforward. Making protocols is therefore not always that easy.