EDITORIAL Ten Simple Rules for a Computational Biologist’s Laboratory Notebook

One of the major hurdles I face as the head of a computational biology laboratory is convincing my research team—particularly those pursuing exclusively mathematical and computational modeling—that they need to keep a laboratory notebook. There seems to be a misconception in the computational biology community that a lab notebook is only useful for recording experimental protocols and their results. A lab notebook is much more than that. It is an orga-nizational tool and memory aid, which serves as the primary record of scientific research and activity for all scientists. It also serves as a legal record of ownership of the ideas and results obtained by a scientist. Here, I present the best practices (summarized as ten rules) for keeping a lab notebook in computational biology, for scientists pursuing exclusively “dry ” research. Rule 1: Learn Your Institution’s or Laboratory’s Notebook Policy A lab notebook is an important tool for good record-keeping, research management, to protect intellectual property and prevent fraud [1]. Leading research institutions, research and devel-opment divisions in companies, and universities have comprehensive lab notebook policies, which research laboratories should implement. In the absence of an institutional policy, your research group should have a policy to explain to all team members the process for dail