Documentation in the life sciences
In the life sciences, an increasing quantity of data is generated that is exclusively available in digital form. For this reason, the use of electronic documentation facilities such as electronic laboratory notebooks is recommended. Data security and protection from manipulation must be ensured when using electronic documentation. The change history should be verifiable based on file versioning.
Experimental approaches in the life sciences are complex: here, the description of experimental conditions, observations and the accompanying parameters should be as complete as possible, but details of the analysis and data evaluation steps (metadata, pipeline, workflow, script language) are likewise required in order to ensure that the results are verifiable and comparable. In connection with animal studies, for example, the ARRIVE guidelines cover some of these aspects and should be taken into account. A collection of recommendations going beyond this for the documentation of various life science research approaches is to be found in the EQUATOR Network.
Many of the measuring devices used in the life sciences contain integrated software that is often not freely available. This means that data processing steps are often not fully verifiable. In order to ensure comparability of the data, information about the integrated software should be included in the description of the measurement data. Freely available software solutions should be used wherever possible.
When using software tools and data sets, always state the version number and, where applicable, the date of access.
When preparing publications, particular attention should be paid to the processing and editing of illustrations according to good research practice, especially when these are used for the summary and comparative visual presentation of results (expression analyses, etc.). In publications, the interpretation of data sets also requires particular care as does the description of the necessary background information.