Experimentdate

Experimentdate is a term used in experimental data management to denote the calendar date on which an experiment was conducted. It is not a universally standardized keyword, but appears as a common field name or data element in various laboratory information management systems, data models, and research notebooks to record when a run took place. The concept helps separate the execution date from other timestamps such as data collection, processing, or publication dates.

In practice, experimentdate is typically stored as a date or date-time value. Many schemas prefer ISO 8601 formats, for example 2024-06-12 or 2024-06-12T14:30:00Z, with considerations for time zone and precision. Some implementations separate the date and time components, while others keep a single timestamp. Ensuring a consistent representation of experimentdate supports reproducibility, auditing, and cross-dataset alignment.

Usage guidance and implications: experimentdate is often linked to run identifiers, sample batches, or project metadata, enabling grouping and filtering of results by when experiments were performed. It is important to distinguish experimentdate from other related dates, such as the date of data collection, processing, or analysis, to avoid confusion in analyses and interpretations. Data quality considerations include handling missing values, time zone clarity, and documenting any uncertainties around the exact time of an experiment.

See also: timestamp, date, ISO 8601, laboratory information management system, data provenance, reproducibility.