Case Study: University of Pennsylvania strengthens research notebook adoption with LabArchives

How research offices can support adoption and usage of new digital technologies in professional research labs

The University of Pennsylvania sought to promote research reproducibility and integrity by adopting an enterprise-wide electronic lab notebook (ELN). After a survey revealed high interest from its researchers, the university selected LabArchives as the vendor to provide a digital solution that would help maintain the highest levels of credibility in their work.

LabArchives was implemented with support from a campus-wide advisory group. The solution's initial deployment was smooth, and the vendor was responsive to technical issues. The most effective adoption strategy involved offering personalized, lab-specific training sessions instead of general ones, which significantly improved uptake. As a result, LabArchives is now used by a wide range of researchers, with events like "Electronic Research Notebook Days" attracting about 100 participants and major graduate programs incorporating the tool into their student orientation.

University of Pennsylvania

Barak Zahavy

University of Pennsylvania