English

Abstract

Notebooks in research are an important part in tracking information of both wet and dry analytical data. Paper books or excel sheets remain the most popular and conventional ways of record keeping. To meet these demands, an open source electronic laboratory notebook is developed that can track users research need. Based on the user specifications, this suite is written in Hypertext Pre-processor (PHP) and based on a MySQL relational database. It enables the set-up of single or a multi-users access controls. A Linux server hosts the application and database. The hardware requirements of suite on the server side are moderate. Bounds and ranges have also been considered and need to be used according to the user instructions. The sharing can be limited to single individual or between research groups. Adequate server and database security measures and daily backups have been provided making its availability long-lasting and protecting data from aging damage. Important notable advantages of this system are that it runs entirely in the web browser with no client software need, industry standard server supporting major operating systems (Windows, Linux and OSX), and ability to upload and store external files. After testing and validating this suite on beta-users for 48 days, it has proven to bring higher quality documentation, data recording and retrieving information with un-parallel higher security. This suite is scalable to the size of laboratory by increasing server space with limited resources. Availability: The electronic notebook is hosted on personal linux server and can be accessed at: http://131.96.32.229/login-system/index.php Key words: Internet/Web-based learning, pedagogy, database, hypertext pre-processor (PHP), electronic laboratory notebook.