Archival documents produced by scientific work: An analysis of laboratory notebooks from the instituto oswaldo cruz

Abstract

This article analyzes the different types of laboratory notebooks, a type of document produced from the records of scientific work, along with their uses and formats in biomedical research. This reflection is based on current research involving documents from laboratories at the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz and their relationship with the concepts, methods, techniques, and practices of archive studies. The methodology includes bibliographic research, a questionnaire, interviews, and archive diagnostics, which were aimed at identifying the originating documentation, the types which are present, and the practices involved in maintaining and using records from 15 laboratories. We also discuss the open lab notebook, a format which has been discussed within the contemporary debate on open science.