User:Shawndouglas/sandbox/sublevel6

5. Resources for selecting and implementing informatics solutions: Part 3: Industry and community resources

Part 3 of this guide's resources chapters provides a variety of industry and community resources that may prove helpful to clinical diagnostic and research laboratories. This includes trade organizations, conferences, trade shows, user communities, books, journals, regulations, standards, and guidance documents, as well as discussion about LIMSpec, an ever-evolving set of software user requirements specifications for laboratory informatics systems.

5.1 Trade organizations

Trade organizations and associations help bring people in similar industries or with similar goals together to learn and share ideas, improve their industry, and gain insights into the newest technologies and procedures. The following represent organizations, associations, and other groups dedicated to not only medical fields but also the application of technology and informatics in medicine.

A through D

• AHIMA Foundation: "improves health information management by supporting the people, research and resources that advance the HIM profession;" 501 (c)(3) charitable child organization of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA)

• Alliance for Nursing Informatics: ANI; a collection of organizations which aims to "advance nursing informatics practice, education, policy and research"

• American Association of Integrated Healthcare Delivery Systems: AAIHDS; "a non-profit organization dedicated to the educational advancement of provider-based managed care professionals responsible for accountable and integrated healthcare delivery"

• American Health Information Management Association: AHIMA; a collaboration of other associations and individuals involved in health information management

• American Medical Informatics Association: AMIA; a professional scientific association which "aims to lead the way in transforming health care through trusted science, education, and the practice of informatics"

• American Nursing Informatics Association: ANIA; a professional organization which aims "to advance the field of nursing informatics through communication, education, research and professional activities"

• American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors: ASCLD; a volunteer not-for-profit organization "dedicated to providing excellence in forensic science through leadership and innovation"

• American Society of Health Informatics Managers: ASHIM; "a non-governmental organization that acts in public interest by fostering professional standards in health IT professionals through its setting and enforcement of the education, examination, experience, ethics, and other requirements for CHISP certification"

• American Telemedicine Association: ATA; a non-profit organization dedicated to "promoting the deployment of telemedicine throughout the world"

• ANSI National Accreditation Board: ANAB; "a non-governmental organization that provides accreditation services and training to public- and private-sector organizations, serving the global marketplace," including laboratories. The ASCLD Laboratory Accreditation Board was merged into ANAB.

• Armenian Association of Digital Health: AADH; a non-governmental, non-profit professional organization dedicated "to promote the development of Digital Health in Armenia, concurrently participating and contributing to further advancements in the field worldwide"

• Artificial Intelligence in Medicine: AIME; attempts to "foster fundamental and applied research in the application of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to medical care and medical research"

• Asia Pacific Association for Medical Informatics: APAMI; the official Asia-Pacific chapter of the International Medical Informatics Association

• Association for Clinical Data Management: ACDM; "represents professionals working in the management of clinical data ... through training, conferences, discussions and information provision"

• Association for Health Information and Libraries in Africa: AHILA; an organization with a vision "to become a leader in promoting access and use of health information in Africa"

• Association for Information Science and Technology: ASIS&T; a professional association which aims to discover "new and better theories, techniques, and technologies to improve access to information"

• Association for Information Systems: AIS; a non-profit organization and "professional association for individuals and organizations who lead the research, teaching, practice, and study of information systems worldwide"

• Association for Pathology Informatics: API; seeks "to promote the field of pathology informatics as an academic and a clinical subspecialty of pathology"

• Association for Veterinary Informatics: AVI; "a non-profit international and interdisciplinary organization comprised of individuals involved in biomedical informatics research, design, implementation, education and advocacy within the domain of veterinary medicine"

• Association of Clinical Scientists: a non-profit scientific and educational corporation "dedicated to the advancement of research and learning in laboratory science"

• Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems: AMDIS; a "professional organization for physicians interested in and responsible for healthcare information technology"

• Association of Public Health Laboratories: APHL; a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization promoting public health laboratories

• Australasian Telehealth Society: ATHS; an incorporated association that acts as "a forum for all of those involved in telehealth in Australia"

• Automation and Analytical Management Group of the Royal Society of Chemistry: AAMG; a special interest group of the analytical division of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)

• Belgian Medical Informatics Association: MIM; a not-for-profit association which aims "to promote and develop medical information science and technology in Belgium"

• BioInfoBank Institute: a non-for-profit research and development organization which aims "to generate, incubate and inspire innovative ideas" and "productive research conducted by highly motivated excellent young scientists in Poland"

• Bioinformatics Institute of India: BII; registered under the Confrere Educational Society, aims "to promote excellence in biotech, life sciences and pharma education"

• Bioinformatics Organization: an incorporated non-profit organization which aims to "develop and maintain computational resources to facilitate world-wide communications and collaborations between people of all educational and professional levels"

• British Computer Society Health: BCS; an international organization actings as "the chartered institute for IT;" aims "to promote new thinking, education and knowledge sharing" in the industry

• British Computer Society Health Scotland : the Scottish branch of the BCS

• Canadian Health Information Management Association : CHIMA; a national membership-based organization which aims to act as a "change leader in health information management"

• Canadian Nursing Informatics Association: CNIA; a national membership-based organization which aims "to be the voice for nursing informatics in Canada"

• Child Health Informatics Center: CHIC; an American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) effort "to support and prepare pediatricians for the many changes that will be occurring over the next few years in regard to health information technology"

• College of Healthcare Information Management Executives: CHIME; a non-profit "professional organization for chief information officers and other senior healthcare IT leaders"

• Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education: CAHIIM; a 501(c)3 not for profit organization that provides "quality monitoring of academic programs in health information management and health informatics through maintenance of accreditation policies and processes"

• Commission on Office Laboratory Accreditation: COLA; "an independent, non-profit accreditor whose education program and standards enable clinical laboratories and staff to meet U.S. CLIA and other regulatory requirements"

• Computing in Cardiology: an incorporated non-profit and international society of scientists and professionals focused on examining the "methods and results of computation" in the study and application of cardiology and cardiovascular physiology

• Council on Clinical Information Technology: COCIT; an American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) sub-group dedicated "to support the development of health information technology"

• Czech Society for Biomedical Engineering and Medical Informatics: ČLS; a voluntary independent association of "physicians, pharmacists and other personnel in healthcare and affiliated fields" and other entities

• Society for Cybernetics and Informatics: CSKI; a society focused on the "support and promotion of cybernetics, informatics and related fields"

• Digital Health Canada: DHC; a professional association dedicated to advancing the field of health informatics (formerly known as COACH: Canada's Health Informatics Association)

E through J

• eHealth Initiative: eHI; a national organization attempting "to drive improvement in the quality of healthcare by promoting the use of technology and information"

• EMBnet - The Global Bioinformatics Network: EMBnet; an initiative of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) that acts as "a pioneer and a provider of bioinformatics services, expertise and training, across Europe and beyond"

• Emergency Informatics Association: EIA; "to propose, track, publish, and promote projects in the emergency informatics domain in support of the EIA vision"

• European Federation for Medical Informatics: EFMI; "a nonprofit organisation concerned with the theory and practice of information science and technology within health and health science in a European context"

• European Health Telematics Association: EHTEL; "a pan European multi-stakeholder forum providing a leadership and networking platform for European corporate, institutional and individual actors dedicated to the betterment of healthcare delivery through eHealth"

• European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics: ERCIM; a consortium that "aims to foster collaborative work within the European research community and to increase co-operation with European industry"

• EUROREC Institute: "an independent not-for-profit organisation, promoting in Europe the use of high quality electronic health record systems (EHRs)"

• Federation for Informatics Professionals: FEDIP; continuing on in spirit of the work the UK Council for Health Informatics Professions was doing, FEDIP "is the only public register for all informatics professionals in the UK dedicated to delivering better health and care through the advanced use of technology"

• Foundation of Healthcare Technologies Society: FHTS; an Indian association of "professionals from diverse backgrounds" attempting "to work in collaboration and to utilize accessible technologies as a medium to facilitate improvement in overall population health"

• Global Observatory for eHealth: GOE; a WHO-backed initiative "dedicated to the study of eHealth [and] its evolution and impact on health in countries"

• Global Organisation for Bioinformatics Learning, Education & Training: GOBLET; a European coalition of individuals and organizations dedicated "to coordinate world-wide bioinformatics training activities" in a shared and mutually respectful way

• Health Informatics in Africa: HELINA; a pan-African health informatics association dedicated to developing education, research, and strategic plans related to health informatics in Africa

• Health Informatics New Zealand: HINZ; a professional association that "seeks to facilitate improved health care outcomes through the dissemination and utilisation of information, knowledge and technology"

• Health Informatics Society of Australia: HISA; "a not-for-profit membership organisation for health informaticians and those with an interest in health informatics"

• Health Informatics Society of Ireland: HISI; this organization "bridges between computer professionals interested in health care, and health care professionals interested in computing – while supporting and embracing the new professionals of healthcare informatics"

• Health Informatics Society of Nigeria: HISN; "a professional membership driven association, developed to serve the growing community of clinical science, information science, computer science and management science professionals who are tasked with managing the dynamic health information technology life cycle"

• Health Information Management Association of Australia: HIMAA; an association turned national company that "seeks to promote and support [its] members as the universally recognised specialists in information management at all levels of the healthcare system"

• Health Level Seven International: HL7; "a not-for-profit, ANSI-accredited standards developing organization dedicated to providing a comprehensive framework and related standards for the exchange, integration, sharing, and retrieval of electronic health information that supports clinical practice and the management, delivery, and evaluation of health services"

• Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society: HIMSS; a "not-for-profit organization exclusively focused on providing global leadership for the optimal use of information technology (IT) and management systems for the betterment of healthcare"

• HIMSS EHR Association: HIMSS EHRA; "a trade association of electronic health record (EHR) companies, addressing national efforts to create interoperable EHRs in hospital and ambulatory care settings"

• IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society: IEEE EMBS; an international society of biomedical engineers "focused on the development and application of engineering concepts and methods to provide new solutions to biological, medical and healthcare problems"

• IEEE Technology Management Council: IEEE TMC; an international organization that "provides information and services to IEEE members and the worldwide audience of practitioners and researchers engaged in the profession of engineering, technology, and innovation management"

• IHE International: IHE; "an initiative by healthcare professionals and industry to improve the way computer systems in healthcare share information"

• Information Institute: a non-profit policy research and educational organization comprised of academics and industry representatives dedicated "to further[ing] understanding of intricate relationships between information science and technology"

• Initiative for Parallel Bioinformatics: IPAB; a Japanese initiative to accelerate the use of technology for performing information processing in the field of bioinformatics

• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers: IEEE; a "professional association dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity"

• Institute of Health Records & Information Management: IHRIM; an educational body dedicated "to provide qualifications at different levels as well as career and professional assistance for members" from "the fields of health records, information management, clinical coding and information governance"

• International Council on Archives: ICA; a non-governmental, member-funded organization "dedicated to the effective management of records and the preservation, care and use of the world's archival heritage"

• International Federation for Information Processing: IFIP; "a non-governmental, non-profit umbrella organization for national societies working in the field of information processing"

• International Federation of Health Information Management Associations: IFHIMA; a non-profit organization affiliated with the World Health Organization (WHO) as a non-governmental organization that "supports national associations and health record professionals to implement and improve health records and the systems which support them"

• International Medical Informatics Association: IMIA; an "association of associations" which acts as a bridge between constituent organizations and their members to better "enable the transformation of healthcare in accord with the world-wide vision of improving the health of the world population"

• International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories: ISBER; a division of the American Society for Investigative Pathology, "promoting harmonized high quality standards, ethical principles and innovation in the science and management of biospecimen collection, processing, storage, distribution and use"

• International Society for Clinical Biostatistics: ISCB; a professional organization dedicated "to [stimulating] research into the principles and methodology used in the design and analysis of clinical research and to increase the relevance of statistical theory to the real world of clinical medicine"

• International Society for Computational Biology: ISCB; a non-profit corporation "addressing scientific policies, providing access to high quality publications, organizing meetings, and serving as a portal to information about training, education, employment and news" for those in the field of bioinformatics and computational biology

• International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering: ISPE; an international society of scientific and technical personnel in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry, "committed to the advancement of the educational and technical efficiency of its members through forums for the exchange of ideas and practical experience"

• IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science: an outgrowth of the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics—which was part of IMS Health, which merged with Quintiles to form IQVIA—the institute "contributes to the advancement of human health globally through timely research, insightful analysis and scientific expertise applied to granular non-identified patient-level data"

• Japan Association for Medical Informatics: JAMI; a Japanese professional association dedicated to sharing academic research related to medical informatics

• Japan Association for Medical Informatics - Nursing Informatics: JAMI-NI; the JAMI subcommittee on nursing informatics

• Japan Association for Clinical Laboratory Science: formerly the Japan Society for Clinical Laboratory Automation, this association attempts to "contribute to precise diagnosis, appropriate treatment, and better health care by applying the latest technologies to clinical laboratories"

• Japan Society of Health Information Management: JHIM; a Japanese scientific organization dedicated to "establishing, implementing, and promoting the science of health information (record) management in Japan"

• Japanese Society for Bioinformatics: JSBi; a Japanese professional association dedicated "to develop[ing] the discipline of bioinformatics in Japan" as well as "the promotion of the technology and related business" aspects of bioinformatics

• Japanese Society of Drug Informatics: JASDI; a Japanese professional association dedicated to "contributing to the improvement and advancement [of] pharmaceutical medicine ... as well as the improvement of science education and research on drug information"

• JISC: a registered U.K. charity dedicated to promoting "the innovative use of information and communication technology to support education, research and institutional effectiveness"

K through Z

• Kenya Health Informatics Association: KeHIA; a professional association dedicated "to further[ing] the health and biomedical agenda in Kenya to support the government's initiatives to improve and sustain quality health services for all Kenyans"

• KDD: a sub-group of the Association for Computing Machinery, promoting the "advancement and adoption of the 'science' of knowledge discovery and data mining"

• Laboratory Research & Innovation Group LRIG; formerly the Laboratory Robotics Interest Group, this is a "special interest group focused on laboratory automation"

• Markle Foundation: a private foundation with the goal of helping others "realize the potential of information technology to address previously intractable public problems, for the health and security of all Americans"

• Medical Computer Society of India: MCSI; a professional society dedicated to promoting the use of computer technology to better patient outcomes

• Medical Library Association: MLA; a nonprofit, educational organization "committed to educating health information professionals, supporting health information research, [and] promoting access to the world's health sciences information"

• Medical Software Industry Association: MSIA; a membership-based professional association representing "the interests of the Australian commercial software industry which develops, supplies and services information management products and services for healthcare practitioners, healthcare service providers and healthcare organisations"

• MedTech Europe: formerly the European Diagnostic Manufacturer’s Association and Eucomed, the two combined to form MedTech Europe, a "trade association for the medical technology industry including diagnostics, medical devices and digital health"

• Middle East Association for Health Informatics: MEAHI; a not-for-profit organization "trying to use regional as well as global potentials to provide a collaborative environment, in which requirements are discussed, solutions are provided, and resources are allocated to tackle healthcare issues of this vulnerable part of the world"

• National Academies: a collection of U.S. "private, nonprofit institutions that provide expert advice on some of the most pressing challenges facing the nation and the world," including sciences, engineering, medicine, and research

• National Association of Health Data Organizations: NAHDO; a U.S. "non-profit membership and educational association dedicated to improving health care data collection and use"

• National Institutes of Health Informatics: NIHI; a Canadian not-for-profit corporation "dedicated to fostering health informatics (HI) innovation, research and education"

• The NELAC Institute: TNI; a "non-profit organization whose mission is to foster the generation of environmental data of known and documented quality through an open, inclusive, and transparent process that is responsive to the needs of the community"

• Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations: NDLTD; "an international organization dedicated to promoting the adoption, creation, use, dissemination, and preservation of electronic theses and dissertations"

• New England Nursing Informatics Consortium: NENIC; "a dynamic regional organization of nurses, allied healthcare professionals, and HIT solution providers"

• Nursing Specialist Group: NSG; a British Computer Society-related "U.K. organisation for nurses and therapists interested in the management and use of information and communications technology to improve the quality, delivery and recording of care"

• Ontario Nursing Informatics Group: ONIG; a professional group attempting "to provide a forum for nursing professionals to communicate and disseminate current developments in health care information systems"

• openEHR Foundation: a not-for-profit company that develops specification, clinical model, and other medical programs and also supports health informatics education

• OSCAR Canada Users' Society: OCUS; a not-for-profit society dedicated to promoting the education and use of OSCAR, "a suite of open-source applications including an electronic medical record"

• Public Health Informatics Institute: PHII; a non-profit organization acting "as a neutral convener of public health professionals and their stakeholders, transforming health practitioners' ability to apply information effectively in order to improve health outcomes worldwide"

• Public Library of Science: PLOS; a not-for-profit "publisher, membership, and advocacy organization with a mission to accelerate progress in science and medicine by leading a transformation in research communication"

• Regenstrief Institute: RI; an informatics and healthcare research organization dedicated to "improving quality of care, increasing efficiency of healthcare delivery, preventing medical errors and enhancing patient safety"

• Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition: SPARC; "an international alliance of academic and research libraries working to correct imbalances in the scholarly publishing system"

• SIGCOMM: a special interest group of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) dedicated to finding answers to "systems engineering and architectural questions surrounding computer communication"

• SNOMED International: SNOMED; the not-for-profit association that owns and maintains SNOMED CT, a comprehensive and multilingual set of clinical terminology

• Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine: SIIM; a "leading healthcare professional organization for those interested in the current and future use of informatics in medical imaging"

• Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening: SLAS; "a global organization that exists to provide forums for education and information exchange to encourage the study of, and improve the science and practice of, laboratory automation and screening"

• Swedish Association of Medical Informatics: SFMI; a professional association that strives "to promote the development of informatics in health care, in particular through the organization of meetings with scientific lectures and discussions"

• Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics: SIB; an academic, non-profit foundation that "coordinates research and education in bioinformatics throughout Switzerland and provides high quality bioinformatics services to the national and international research community"

• Ukrainian Association for Computer Medicine: UACM; an independent non-governmental non-commercial organization dedicated to furthering the use of computers and other technology in medicine

• University hospital Medical Information Network: UMIN; "a cooperative organization for national medical schools in Japan"

• URAC: an independent, nonprofit organization "promoting health care quality through its accreditation, education and measurement programs"

• Vancouver Bioinformatics Users Group: VanBUG; "an association of researchers, other professionals and students in the B.C. Lower Mainland who have an interest in the field of bioinformatics"

5.2 Conferences and trade shows

If you wish to first sort by one column, and then another column (e.g., first by year, and then by date), simply left-click the desired arrow for the first column to sort by, and then hold the Shift key and left-click the desired arrow for the second column to sort by.

Note: These listings are updated three times a year, typically at the beginning of January, May, and September.

Conferences

Conference	Country	City (State)	Month / Day(s)	Year	Organizer	Details
ACM-BCB 2024	China	Shenzhen	11 / 22–25	2024	Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)	An annual conference on bioinformatics, computational biology, and health informatics
ACM SIGCOMM 2024	Australia	Sydney	08 / 04–08	2024	Association for Computing Machinery's (ACM's) Special Interest Group on Data Communication (SIGCOMM)	An annual international meeting of the ACM SIGCOMM on the topic of computer and data communication networks and their "architecture, design, implementation, operations, analysis, measurement, and simulation" (alternate URL)
AMIA 2024 Annual Symposium	United States	San Francisco (California)	11 / 09–13	2024	American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA)	An annual biomedical and informatics symposium for the AMIA
AMIA Informatics Summit 2025	United States	Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania)	03 / 10–13	2025	American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA)	Annual summit on a "full range of cutting-edge work in translational informatics and clinical data science from inception to implementation"
ANIA 2025 Conference	United States	New Orleans (Louisiana)	05 / 27–29	2025	American Nursing Informatics Association (ANIA)	An annual informatics conference for the ANIA
APHL 2025	United States	Portland (Oregon)	05 / 05–08	2025	Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL)	An annual public health conference for the APHL
ASCLD 2025 Symposium	United States	Denver (Colorado)	04 / 04–08	2025	American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors (ASCLD)	An annual symposium concerning "the day-to-day operation of a crime laboratory" for the ASCLD
ASIS&T 2024 Annual Meeting	Canada	Calgary (Alberta)	10 / 25–29	2024	Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T)	An annual information science and technology conference for the ASIS&T
Bio-IT World Conference and Expo 2025	United States	Boston (Massachusetts)	04 / 02–04	2025	Cambridge Healthtech Institute	An annual medical and biomedical informatics conference and exhibition
BIOSTEC 2025	Portugal	Porto	02 / 20–22	2025	Institute for Systems and Technologies of Information, Control and Communication	An annual multi-conference on "theoretical advances and applications of information systems, artificial intelligence, signal processing, electronics and other engineering tools in knowledge areas related to biology and medicine"
BIOTECHNO 2025	Portugal	Lisbon	03 / 09–13	2025	International Academy, Research and Industry Association (IARIA)	An international conference on bioinformatics, biocomputational systems, and biotechnologies
Computing in Cardiology	Germany	Karlsruhe	09 / 08–11	2024	Computers in Cardiology, Inc.	An international conference on computing in clinical cardiology and cardiovascular physiology
Context Sensitive Health Informatics (CSHI) 2025	Unknown	Unknown	11 / Unknown	2025	European Federation for Medical Informatics	A biennial international conference on health information technologies and their environments
Digital Health & Care Scotland 2025	Scotland	Edinburgh	02 / Unknown	2025	Holyrood Connect	An annual national conference for sharing digital health successes and lessons learned
e-Health 2025	Canada	Toronto (Ontario)	06 / 01–03	2025	Canada Health Infoway (CHI); Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI); COACH: Canada's Health Informatics Association	A national conference on eHealth and medical informatics
EAI Healthware 2024	Turkey	Isparta	12 / 02–03	2024	European Alliance for Innovation (EAI)	A triennial international conference of the "key issues, opportunities and obstacles for personal health data research"
EMBC’24	United States	Orlando (Florida)	07 / 15–19	2024	The IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (IEEE EMBC)	An annual international conference of the IEEE EMBC
EMBnet AGM 2025	Unknown	Unknown	06 / Unknown	2025	EMBnet, The Global Bioinformatics Network	An annual conference on bioinformatics for EMBnet
EuroIA 2024	Unknown	Unknown	09 / Unknown	2024	EuroIA Organizing Committee	An annual European conference on information architecture and informatics
FOIS 2025	Unknown	Unknown	07 / Unknown	2025	The International Association for Ontology and its Applications (IAOA)	A biennial conference on formal ontology and information systems
Genome Informatics 2024	United Kingdom	Hinxton	11 / 13–15	2024	Wellcome Genome Campus	An annual conference that "will bring together computational biologists, human geneticists and others working on comparative and evolutionary genomics to discuss important recent advances"
Health Datapalooza 2024	United States	Washington (D.C.)	09 / 16–17	2024	AcademyHealth	A conference on "creating knowledge from data and pioneering innovations that drive health policy and practice"
HEALTHINF 2025	Portugal	Porto	02 / 20–22	2025	Institute for Systems and Technologies of Information, Control and Communication (INSTICC)	An annual international conference on health informatics
HIMAA 2024	Australia	Melbourne (Victoria)	10 / 28–30	2024	The Health Information Management Association Australia (HIMAA)	An annual health informatics conference for HIMAA
HIMSS 2025	United States	Las Vegas (Nevada)	03 / 03–06	2025	The Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS)	An annual health informatics conference for HIMSS
HIMSS Europe 2025	Unknown	Unknown	05 / Unknown	2025	Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS) Europe	An annual international conference of HIMSS Europe
HINZ 2024	New Zealand	Hamilton	12 / 02–05	2024	Health Informatics New Zealand (HINZ)	An annual health informatics conference for HINZ
HIS 2024	China	Hong Kong	12 / 08–10	2024	HIS (Health Information Science) Organizing Committee	An annual international conference on health informatics
ICIMTH 2025	Unknown	Unknown	07 / Unknown	2025	ICIMTH Organizing Committee	An annual international conference on biomedical, clinical, and other types of informatics
ICKM 2024	United States	Kent (Ohio)	10 / 21–24	2024	International Conference on Knowledge Management (ICKM) Organizing Committee	An annual international conference on on scientific developments in information technology and knowledge management
IEEE International Conference on Healthcare Informatics 2025	Unknown	Unknown	06 / Unknown	2025	IEEE	An annual international conference on scientific developments in clinical information technology
IFHIMA Congress 2026	Australia	Unknown	10 / Unknown	2026	The International Federation of Health Information Management Associations (IFHIMA)	A triennial international health information management congress for IFHIMA
Inform 2025 Waters Informatics Users Conference	Unknown	Unknown	04 / Unknown	2025	Waters Corporation	An annual user conference of Waters' informatics products
INFORMATIK 2024	Germany	Wiesbaden	09 / 24–26	2024	Gesellschaft für Informatik	An annual national conference on informatics
Information Architecture Conference 2025	Unknown	Unknown	04 / Unknown	2025	IA Institute	An annual information architecture and informatics summit
International Conference on Biomedical and Health Informatics 2024 (ICBHI)	Taiwan	Tainan	10 / 30 – 11 / 02	2024	International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering and others	An international conference on biomedical and health informatics
International Conference on Medical and Health Informatics (ICHMI) 2025	Japan	Kyoto	05 / 16–18	2025	Chemical, Biological & Environmental Engineering Society	An annual international conference on technology in the medical and health sciences
International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics (ICINCO) 2024	Porto	Portugal	11 / 18–20	2024	Institute for Systems and Technologies of Information, Control and Communication	An annual international conference on the "application of informatics to control, automation, and robotics"
International Conference on Proteomics, Genomics and Bioinformatics	Unknown	Unknown	11 / Unknown	2024	OMICS Group	An annual international conference on proteomics and bioinformatics
ISBER 2025	Unknown	Unknown	04 / Unknown	2025	International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER)	An annual international conference for ISBER
ISC'25	Germany	Hamburg	06 / 10–13	2025	Prometeus	An annual international conference on high-performance computing
ISCB 2024	Greece	Thessaloniki	07 / 21–25	2024	International Society for Clinical Biostatistics (ISCB)	An annual international conference for the ISCB
ISMB 2024	Canada	Montreal (Québec)	07 / 12–16	2024	International Society for Computational Biology	An annual international bioinformatics and computational biology conference
LabWare 2024 Africa Customer Education Conference	South Africa	Zimbali	09 / 10–13	2024	LabWare, Inc.	An annual LabWare customer education conference for the Africa region
LabWare 2024 Asia Pacific Customer Education Conference	Australia	Gold Coast	08 / 14–16	2024	LabWare, Inc.	An annual LabWare customer education conference for the Asia Pacific region
LabWare 2024 China Customer Education Conference	China	Guiyang City	09 / 23–27	2024	LabWare, Inc.	An annual LabWare customer education conference for the China region
LabWare 2024 European Customer Education Conference	Italy	Rome	06 / 10–14	2024	LabWare, Inc.	An annual LabWare customer education conference for the European region
LabWare 2024 Latin American Customer Education Conference	Mexico	Cancun	10 / 13–18	2024	LabWare, Inc.	An annual LabWare customer education conference for the Latin American region
LabWare 2024 Middle East & North Africa Customer Education Conference	Egypt	Unknown	11 / 04–06	2024	LabWare, Inc.	An annual LabWare customer education conference for the Middle East & North Africa region
LabWare 2025 North American Customer Education Conference	Unknown	Unknown	04 / Unknown	2025	LabWare, Inc.	An annual LabWare customer education conference for the North American region
LIMS-Forum 2024	Germany	Mannheim	11 / 19–20	2024	Klinkner & Partner	An annual forum on laboratory informatics
MedInfo 2025	Taiwan	Taipei	08 / 09–13	2025	International Medical Informatics Association	A biennial international congress on medical and health informatics
MedTech Conference, The	Canada	Toronto (Ontario)	10 / 15—17	2024	AdvaMed	An annual conference on medical informatics and technology
MIE 2024	Greece	Athens	08 / 25–28	2024	European Federation for Medical Informatics (EFMI)	An annual European conference on medical informatics
NAHDO Annual Conference	ONLINE	ONLINE	11 / 12–14	2024	National Association of Health Data Organizations (NAHDO)	An annual health informatics conference for NAHDO
NextGen Omics Series UK	United Kingdom	London	10 / 23–25	2024	Oxford Global Conferences	An annual European congress on NGS technologies, data analysis, and clinical applications
Paperless Lab Academy 2025 - Europe	Unknown	Unknown	03 / Unknown	2025	Industrial Lab Automation	An annual conference on the paperless laboratory for the European market
Paperless Lab Academy 2024 - India	India	Mumbai	10 / 15–16	2024	Industrial Lab Automation	An annual conference on the paperless laboratory for the Indian market
Paperless Lab Academy 2024 - USA	United States	Unknown	11 / Unknown	2024	Industrial Lab Automation	An annual conference on the paperless laboratory for the US market
Pathology Informatics Summit 2025	Unknown	Unknown	05 / Unknown	2025	University of Pittsburgh and the Association for Pathology Informatics (API)	An annual educational conference on pathology informatics
Physician-Computer Connection Annual Symposium	United States	Ojai (California)	06 / 18–21	2024	Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems	An annual national symposium on physician use of healthcare information systems and technology
Pittcon	United States	Boston (Massachusetts)	03 / 01–05	2025	The Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy	An annual international conference and expo on laboratory science
RDAP25	ONLINE	ONLINE	03 / Unknown	2025	Research Data Access & Preservation Association	An annual research data access and preservation summit
Rocky Mountain Bioinformatics Annual Conference	United States	Snowmass Village (Colorado)	12 / Unknown	2024	International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB)	An annual conference for the ISCB
SC24	United States	Atlanta (Georgia)	11 / 17–22	2024	HPC Interconnections	An annual international supercomputing conference
SIGKDD 2024	Barcelona	Spain	08 / 25–29	2024	KDD 2024 Organizing Committee	An annual conference on data mining and big data
SIIM 2024 Annual Meeting	United States	National Harbor (Maryland)	06 / 27–29	2024	Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine	An annual conference on imaging informatics and technology
SLAS2025	United States	San Diego (California)	01 / 25–29	2025	Society for Laboratory Automation & Screening (SLAS)	An annual conference and exhibition about laboratory automation for SLAS
SmartLab Exchange USA	United States	Fort Lauderdale (Florida)	04 / 07–08	2025	IQPC Exchange and the International Quality and Productivity Center (IQPC)	An annual conference on informatics in R&D and manufacturing
SPIE Medical Imaging 2025	United States	San Diego (California)	02 / 16–20	2025	International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE)	An annual conference on the "advancement of medical imaging technologies that include image processing, physics, computer-aided diagnosis, biomedical applications, informatics, digital pathology, and more"
State Healthcare IT Connect Summit 2025	United States	Unknown	04 / Unknown	2025	National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO)	An annual summit for those managing state health IT systems
Summer Institute in Nursing Informatics (SINI) 2024	United States	Baltimore (Maryland)	07 / 18–19	2024	University of Maryland School of Nursing	An annual national nursing informatics conference

Trade shows

Trade show	Country	City (State)	Month / Day(s)	Year	Organizer	Details
Analitica Latin America	Brazil	São Paulo	09 / 23–25	2024	NürnbergMesse Brasil	A biennial international exhibition for laboratory technology, analyses, biotechnology, and quality control
analytica	Germany	Munich (Bavaria)	06 / 09–12	2024	Messe München	A biennial international trade fair for laboratory technology, analysis, and biotechnology
Analiza	Israel	Tel-Aviv	05 / Unknown	2025	STIER	A biennial international trade fair for laboratory technology, equipment, and instrumentation
analytica Anacon India - Hyderabad	India	Hyderabad (Telangana)	09 / 26–28	2024	Messe München	An annual international trade fair for laboratory technology, analysis, and biotechnology
analytica Anacon India - Mumbai	India	Mumbai (Maharashtra)	04 / Unknown	2025	Messe München	An annual international trade fair for laboratory technology, analysis, and biotechnology
analytica China	China	Shanghai	11 / 18–20	2024	Messe München	A biennial international trade fair for laboratory technology, analysis, and biotechnology
analytica Lab Africa	South Africa	Johannesburg	07 / 08–10	2025	Messe München	A biennial international trade fair for laboratory technology, analysis, and biotechnology
analytica Vietnam	Vietnam	Ho Chi Minh City	04 / Unknown	2025	Messe München	An annual international trade fair for laboratory technology, analysis, and biotechnology
ARABLAB 2024	United Arab Emirates	Dubai	09 / 24–26	2024	The ARABLAB Group, Scientific International Exhibitions Ltd.	An annual international laboratory and instrumentation tech trade fair
Belarus Medica 2025	Belarus	Minsk	04 / Unknown	2025	Technics And Communications Jsc	A medical exhibition featuring all major branches of medicine
CISILE 2025	China	Beijing	05 / Unknown	2025	China Instrument Manufacturers Association	An annual international scientific instrument and laboratory equipment exhibition
Clinical Lab Expo 2024	United States	Chicago (Illinois)	07 / 30 – 08 / 01	2024	ADLM	An annual exhibition of clinical laboratory products and services
DMEA 2025	Germany	Berlin (Berlin)	04 / 08–10	2025	Messe Berlin	An annual European exhibition on healthcare IT (formerly Connecting Healthcare IT)
Expomed Eurasia 2025	Turkey	Istanbul	04 / 24–26	2025	Reed Tüyap Exhibitions Inc.	An annual international trade fair for the healthcare industry (formerly LabtechMED Eurasia)
Forensics Europe Expo 2024	England	London	06 / 19–20	2024	Clarion Defence and Security Limited	An annual trade fair and conference for anything related to forensic science
Forum LABO Lyon 2026	France	Lyon	03 / Unknown	2026	Comité Interprofessionnel des Fournisseurs du Laboratoire (CIFL)	A biennial European exhibition focused on laboratory professionals from multiple sectors
Forum LABO Paris 2025	France	Paris	03 / 25–27	2025	Comité Interprofessionnel des Fournisseurs du Laboratoire (CIFL)	A biennial European exhibition focused on laboratory professionals from multiple sectors
Hospital Expo - Indonesia 2023	Indonesia	Jakarta	10 / 16–19	2024	PT. Okta Sejahtera Insani	An annual international exhibition on hospital, medical, clinical, and pharmaceutical equipment and technologies
ILMAC Basel 2024	Switzerland	Basel	09 / Unknown	2025	MCH Group AG	A biennial trade fair for process and laboratory technology
ILMAC Luasanne 2024	Switzerland	Luasanne	09 / 04–05	2024	MCH Group AG	A biennial trade fair for process and laboratory technology
India Lab Expo 2024 - Hyderabad	India	Hyderabad (Telangana)	09 / 26–28	2024	Messe München	An annual trade show on laboratory and bioinformatics
India Lab Expo 2024 - Mumbai	India	Mumbai (Maharashtra)	04 / Unknown	2025	Messe München	An annual trade show on laboratory and bioinformatics
Infosecurity Europe 2025	England	London	06 / Unknown	2025	Reed Exhibitions Limited	An annual European information security exhibition
INTERPHEX 2025	United States	New York City (New York)	04 / 01–03	2025	Reed Exhibitions	An annual pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical trade show
JASIS 2024	Japan	Chiba	09 / 06–08	2024	Japan Analytical Instruments Manufacturers' Association	An annual national trade show on analytical and scientific systems and solutions
Korea Lab 2025	South Korea	Seoul	04 / 22–25	2025	Kyungyon Exhibition Corp.	An annual national trade show on laboratory and biotechnology
Lab Indonesia 2026	Indonesia	Jakarta	04 / 15–17	2026	Informa PLC	A biennial national trade fair for the laboratory sector
Lab Innovations 2024	United Kingdom	Birmingham	10 / 30–31	2024	EasyFairs UK Ltd.	An annual European trade fair for the laboratory sector
LAB-SUPPLY 2024 Regional Fair - Berlin	Germany	Berlin (Berlin)	06 / 18	2024	Vogel Communications Group GmbH & Co. KG	An annual regional trade fair for instrumental analytics, laboratory technology, laboratory chemicals, and biotechnology
LAB-SUPPLY 2024 Regional Fair - Dresden	Germany	Dresden (Saxony)	09 / 18	2024	Vogel Communications Group GmbH & Co. KG	An annual regional trade fair for instrumental analytics, laboratory technology, laboratory chemicals, and biotechnology
LAB-SUPPLY 2024 Regional Fair - Freiburg	Germany	Freiburg (Baden-Württemberg)	10 / 23	2024	Vogel Communications Group GmbH & Co. KG	An annual regional trade fair for instrumental analytics, laboratory technology, laboratory chemicals, and biotechnology
LAB-SUPPLY 2024 Regional Fair - Hamburg	Germany	Hamburg (Hamburg)	11 / 14	2024	Vogel Communications Group GmbH & Co. KG	An annual regional trade fair for instrumental analytics, laboratory technology, laboratory chemicals, and biotechnology
LAB-SUPPLY 2024 Regional Fair - Innsbruck	Austria	Innsbruck	09 / 04	2024	Vogel Communications Group GmbH & Co. KG	An annual regional trade fair for instrumental analytics, laboratory technology, laboratory chemicals, and biotechnology
LAB-SUPPLY 2025 Regional Fair - Main in Frankfurt	Germany	Frankfurt (Hesse)	03 / Unknown	2025	Vogel Communications Group GmbH & Co. KG	An annual regional trade fair for instrumental analytics, laboratory technology, laboratory chemicals, and biotechnology
LAB-SUPPLY 2025 Regional Fair - Münster	Germany	Münster (North Rhine-Westphalia)	04 / Unknown	2025	Vogel Communications Group GmbH & Co. KG	An annual regional trade fair for instrumental analytics, laboratory technology, laboratory chemicals, and biotechnology
LAB-SUPPLY 2024 Regional Fair - Rhein in Leverkusen	Germany	Leverkusen (North Rhine-Westphalia)	10 / 08	2024	Vogel Communications Group GmbH & Co. KG	An annual regional trade fair for instrumental analytics, laboratory technology, laboratory chemicals, and biotechnology
LAB-SUPPLY 2025 Regional Fair - Wien	Austria	Vienna	05 / Unknown	2025	Vogel Communications Group GmbH & Co. KG	An annual regional trade fair for instrumental analytics, laboratory technology, laboratory chemicals, and biotechnology
LabAsia 2025	Malaysia	Kuala Lampur	07 / 14–16	2025	Informa PLC	A biennial regional trade fair and conference for the laboratory sector
LabComplEX 2024	Ukraine	Kyiv	09 / Unknown	2024	ExpoForum, LLC	An annual national trade show on laboratory and biotechnology
Laborama 2025	Belgium	Bruxelles	03 / Unknown	2025	Laborama vzw-asbl	An annual European trade fair for the laboratory sector
LABVOLUTION 2025	Germany	Hannover (Lower Saxony)	05 / Unknown	2025	Deutsche Messe	A biennial international trade fair for the biotechnology, life sciences, and laboratory tech communities
MEDIDENT 2024	Serbia	Belgrade	10 / 24–26	2024	Belgrade Fair	An annual international exhibition of medical, laboratory, pharmaceutical, dental, and veterinary equipment, instruments, and services
MEDLAB Asia Pacific 2024	Thailand	Bangkok	07 / 10–12	2024	Informa Life Sciences Exhibitions	An annual international laboratory exhibition and congress
Philippines Medical Expo 2024	Philippines	Manila	08 / 14–16	2024	Fireworks Exhibitions and Conferences	An annual national medical and laboratory exhibition
Rommedica 2024	Romania	Bucharest	10 / 10–12	2024	ROMEXPO	An annual international trade fair for medical instruments and equipment
Thailand Lab International 2024	Thailand	Bangkok	09 / 11–13	2024	VNU Exhibitions Asia Pacific Co., Ltd.	An annual international trade fair for analytical laboratory equipment & technology, biotechnology & life sciences, and chemicals & safety
World of Technology & Science 2024	The Netherlands	Utrecht	09 / 24–27	2024	FHI Federation of Technology Branches	A biennial international trade fair for industrial electronics, industrial automation, and laboratory technology

5.3 User communities

The following user communities (in the form of forums, discussion boards, email discussion lists, etc.) are known to provide a space for medical diagnostic and research personnel to discuss their work:

• AAPC Medical Billing and Coding Forum
• AmericanEHR
• ASCLS Open Forum
• BCS Health Informatics Forum, on LinkedIn
• Forens-L Email Discussion List
• Health Informatics Forum
• IAMA Email Discussion Lists
• JISCMail's industry-specific mailing lists
• Laboratory LOINC
• Laboratory Research & Innovation Group, on LinkedIn
• LabWrench
• LIMS/Laboratory Informatics group, on LinkedIn
• LIMSforum
• PathLabTalk

Reddit-based communities

• /r/healthIT
• /r/labrats
• /r/MedLabProfessionals

5.4 Books and journals

Books

Hundred of books concerning medical- and research-based laboratory science—as well as laboratory informatics—have been published over the past several decades. As such, it's difficult to make specific recommendations, at least without context. However, professional organizations are quite proficient in making such recommendations through their reading libraries and accreditation programs. For example, the Canadian Society for Medical Laboratory Science maintains a -page list of reference textbooks that are useful for their Medical Laboratory Technologist examination. The American Society for Clinical Pathology has its own publication division, with more than 60 in-house books published on various elements of pathology and laboratory science. The American Public Health Association has a similar library, as does the American Society for Microbiology, and the American College of Physicians.

For medical informatics books, the Amazon-associated BookAuthority has a section for medical informatics, though it's not clear how rigorous their ratings system is. Universities such as the University of Illinois-Chicago also may offer book recommendations.

Journals

Journal Journal description ACIMED a Spanish language journal of medical informatics published by the National Center of Information on Medical Sciences in Cuba ACM Transactions on Database Systems a database management journal released by the Association for Computing Machinery Advanced Engineering Informatics an Elsevier journal on advanced computing methods and "knowledge-intensive tasks in engineering" Annals of Clinical & Laboratory Science a journal covering research in clinical science released by the Association of Clinical Scientists Applied Clinical Informatics a biomedical and health informatics journal produced by the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) and the Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems (AMDIS) Applied Medical Informatics a medical informatics journal overseen by the Department of Medical Informatics and Biostatistics at Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy Artificial Intelligence in Medicine an Elsevier journal covering "interdisciplinary perspectives concerning the theory and practice of artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine, human biology, and health care" Biodiversity Informatics a University of Kansas Libraries-hosted electronic journal that "focuses on the emerging field of biodiversity informatics" Bioinformatics an Oxford Journals release that focuses "on new developments in genome bioinformatics and computational biology" Biomedical Signal Processing and Control an Elsevier journal covering "research in the measurement and analysis of signals and images in clinical medicine and the biological sciences" BMC Bioinformatics an open-access journal focusing on "the development, testing and novel application of computational and statistical methods for the modeling and analysis of all kinds of biological data" BMC Medical Informatics & Decision Making an open-access journal focusing on "the design, development, implementation, use, and evaluation of health information technologies and decision-making within the healthcare setting" Briefings in Bioinformatics an Oxford Journals release that covers "databases and analytical tools of contemporary genetics, molecular and systems biology" Cancer Informatics an open-access journal focusing on "bioinformatic analysis of molecular genetic and/or clinical data pertaining to human cancer risk, prevention, outcome or treatment response" Chinese Journal of Health Informatics and Management a Chinese journal reporting on trends in health informatics and the management of related systems Clinical Informatics and Telemedicine the official journal of the Ukrainian Association for Computer Medicine, this publication focuses on "the newest technologies in clinical informatics" Clinics in Laboratory Medicine an Elsevier publication, each issue focusing on a pathology topic as it relates to laboratory management and technologies (alternate URL) Computational Statistics & Data Analysis the Elsevier-published official journal of the International Association of Statistical Computing (IASC) "dedicated to the dissemination of methodological research and applications in the areas of computational statistics and data analysis" Computer Communication Review the official publication of the Association for Computing Machinery's (ACM's) Special Interest Group on Data Communication (SIGCOMM); a publication containing both peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed content concerning the topic of computer communication Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine an Elsevier journal covering "computing methodology and software systems derived from computing science for implementation in all aspects of biomedical research and medical practice" Computers & Geosciences an Elsevier journal covering the use of "modern computer science paradigms, whether computational or informatics-based, to address problems in the geosciences" Computers in Biology and Medicine an Elsevier journal focused on the "advances being made in the application of the computer to the fields of bioscience and medicine" Computers Informatics Nursing a monthly online / bimonthly print journal covering "the latest developments in nursing informatics, research, and educational technology" Computing and Informatics a bimonthly journal on computer architectures, distributed computing, software engineering, and information management Current Bioinformatics a Betham Science journal which "focuses on reviews on advances in computational molecular/structural biology" Current Protocols in Bioinformatics a trimonthly Wiley publication "designed for research biologists" concerning the how-to of "hundreds of applications and databases from research groups around the globe" Data & Knowledge Engineering an Elsevier journal focused on the "the underlying principles in the design and effective use" database and knowledgebase systems Earth Science Informatics a Springer journal focused on "geoinformatics, computational Earth science, and all aspects of computer applications dealing with the earth systems science (ESS) and planetary and space science" Egyptian Informatics Journal an Elsevier journal from the Faculty of Computers and Information, Cairo University which acts as a "forum for the state-of-the-art research and development in the fields of computing, including computer sciences, information technologies, information systems, operations research and decision support" EMBnet.journal an international open-access journal for biomedical scientists covering data analysis, IT architecture, and data-driven research EURASIP Journal on Bioinformatics and Systems Biology a SpringerOpen journal (sponsored by the European Association for Signal Processing [EURASIP]) covering "signal processing and bioinformatics theories and techniques relevant to a wide area of applications into the core new disciplines of genomics, proteomics, and systems biology" EURASIP Journal on Information Security a SpringerOpen journal (sponsored by the European Association for Signal Processing [EURASIP]) covering "information security, with a particular emphasis on the use of signal processing tools in adversarial environments" European Journal for Biomedical Informatics the official multi-lingual journal of the European Federation of Medical Informatics (EFMI), targeted at "biomedical researchers, physicians, other health personnel and citizens" Evolutionary Bioinformatics an international open-access journal covering evolutionary bioinformatics Foundations and Trends in Information Retrieval a now publishers online journal that covers numerous aspect of information retrieval, from architecture and applications to theory and usability Fundamenta Informaticae an IOS Press journal covering "all areas of mathematical foundations of computer science and their applications" GeoInformatica a Springer journal focused on "disseminating original and fundamental research and experience in the expanding uses of computer science for spatial studies" Health Affairs a journal on "health policy thought and research," sponsored by Project HOPE, a non-profit international health education organization Health Care and Informatics Review Online the official journal of the not-for-profit Health Informatics New Zealand (HINZ), "dedicated to reviewing and interpreting significant developments in healthcare delivery with a particular focus on health informatics" Health Informatics Journal a SAGE journal which covers "the fields of informatics and telematics, the health professions, computer science, engineering and management" Health Information & Libraries Journal the Wiley-published official journal of the Health Libraries Group of the U.K. Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, dedicated to health library and information workers Health Information Management Interchange the official research journal of the Health Information Management Association of Australia (HIMAA), covering healthcare informatics Health Information Science and Systems a multidisciplinary open-access journal "that aims to integrate computer science/information technology with health science and services" Human-centric Computing and Information Sciences the SpringerOpen journal for the Future Technology Research Association International (FTRA), covering "various theories and practical applications related to human-centric computing and information sciences" IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) publication on "information technology applications in health, healthcare and biomedicine" IEEE Transactions on Information Theory an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) publication on "the transmission, processing, and utilization of information" Informatica a quarterly IO Press journal "on mathematical simulation and optimization, recognition and control, programming theory and systems, automation systems and elements" Informatics for Health and Social Care a quarterly journal dedicated "to show how informatics contributes to the better delivery of care through the presentation of high-quality [research or practice] material" Information & Management an Elsevier journal which "serves managers, professionals, database administrators and senior executives of organizations which design, implement and manage information systems applications" Information and Organization an Elsevier journal focused on "the relationships between information technologies and social organization" Information and Software Technology an Elsevier journal dedicated to "focusing on research and experience that contributes to the improvement of software development practices" Information Knowledge Systems Management an IO Press journal focused on the "understanding and enhancing use of information management, knowledge management, and systems management for organizational and enterprise improvement" Information Sciences an Elsevier journal focused on "research activities in information, knowledge engineering and intelligent systems" Information Services & Use an IOS Press journal that "aims at leaders in information management and applications in an attempt to keep them fully informed of fast-moving developments in fields such as: online systems, offline systems, electronic publishing, library automation, education and training, word processing and telecommunications" Information Systems an Elsevier journal publishing information "concerning the design and implementation of languages, data models, process models, algorithms, software and hardware for information systems" Information Systems Journal a Wiley journal "promoting the study of, and interest in, information systems" Intelligent Data Analysis an IOS Press journal that covers "research and applications of artificial intelligence techniques in data analysis across a variety of disciplines" International Journal of Bioinformatics Research and Applications an Inderscience journal focused "on basic bioinformatics research methods, tool development, performance evaluation and their applications in biology" International Journal of Data Mining & Knowledge Management Process a journal of non-profit Academy & Industry Research Collaboration Center (AIRCC) that focuses on "computational theories and tools to assist researchers in extracting useful information from the rapidly growing volumes of digital data" International Journal of Electronic Healthcare an Inderscience journal "which presents current practice and research in the area of e-healthcare" International Journal of Functional Informatics and Personalised Medicine a quarterly Interscience journal "dedicated to promoting the research, education and awareness of functional informatics and personalised medicine" International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management a quarterly Interscience journal that "provides an international forum and refereed authoritative sources of information in the fields of the economics and management of technology in healthcare" International Journal of Health Information Management Research a University of Sheffield-hosted open-access journal covering clinical informatics, e-Health, and health information management International Journal of Information Management an Elsevier journal "that address contemporary issues for all those involved in information management" International Journal of Medical Engineering and Informatics an Inderscience journal that covers "the structural/functional aspects of disease mechanisms and the application of technology towards the treatment/management of such diseases" International Journal of Medical Informatics the Elsevier-published official journal of the European Federation of Medical Informatics (EFMI) International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care the official digital journal of Health Technology Assessment International (HTAI) covering "the economic, social, ethical, medical and public health implications of health technology" Japan Journal of Medical Informatics a medical informatics journal from the Japan Association for Medical Informatics Journal of Biomedical Informatics n Elsevier journal that "emphasizes reports of new methodologies and techniques that have general applicability and that form the basis for the evolving science of biomedical informatics" Journal of Biomedical Semantics an open-access journal that "addresses issues of semantic enrichment and semantic processing in the biomedical domain" Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling an ACS journal "reporting new methodology and/or important applications in the fields of chemical informatics and molecular modeling" Journal of Cheminformatics "an open-access journal publishing original peer-reviewed research in all aspects of cheminformatics and molecular modelling" Journal of Clinical Bioinformatics "an open-access, peer-reviewed online journal publishing original research on all aspects of the development of bioinformatics approaches" Journal of Clinical Laboratory Analysis a Wiley journal focused on "newly developing modes of technology and laboratory assays, with emphasis on their application in current and future clinical laboratory testing" Journal of Clinical Monitoring and Computing a Springer journal focused on "the exchange of knowledge and clinical information through the rapid, accurate publication of empirical clinical studies, case reports," and other types of documents and data in the clinical sphere Journal of Cloud Computing: Advances, Systems and Applications a SpringerOpen journal focused on "topics that are core to cloud computing, focusing on the cloud applications, the cloud systems, and the advances that will lead to the clouds of the future" Journal of Community Informatics a publication of the Centre for Community Informatics Research, Development and Training which focuses on "the study and practice of enabling communities with information and communications technologies" Journal of Computer Security an IOS Press journal that "presents research and development results of lasting significance in the theory, design, implementation, analysis, and application of secure computer systems" Journal of Digital Information an online journal "on the management, presentation and uses of information in digital environments," supported by the University of Texas Libraries; not accepting submissions Journal of Electronic Resources in Medical Libraries a quarterly Routledge journal "devoted to the access, evaluation, and management of electronic resources in the medical library environment" Journal of Health Informatics in Developing Countries an open-access biannual journal focused "on health informatics that relate to developing countries" Journal of Hospital Librarianship a quarterly Routledge journal that "addresses a wide variety of subjects that are vital to the field, including administrative, technical and program issues that may challenge hospital librarians" Journal of Hydroinformatics the official journal of the IAHR-IWA-IAHS Joint Committee on Hydroinformatics, "devoted to the application of information technology in the widest sense to problems of the aquatic environment" Journal of Information Science a bimonthly SAGE journal "covering topics of interest to all those researching and working in information science and knowledge management" Journal of Innovation in Health Informatics formerly known as Informatics in Primary Care, the journal is specific to "promoting excellence and professionalism in health informatics and improving public awareness and confidence that informatics can enhance health" Journal of Management Information Systems a quarterly journal focused on "research that advances the practice and understanding of organizational information systems" Journal of Medical Engineering & Technology the official journal of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM), "promoting an understanding of the physiological processes underlying disease processes and the appropriate application of technology" Journal of Medical Informatics a CNKI Chinese journal covering the field of medical informatics Journal of Medical Internet Research an open-access journal on the topic of health and healthcare in the Internet age Journal of Medical Systems a Springer journal covering "applications of new systems techniques and methods in hospital, clinic, and physician's office administration; pathology, radiology, and pharmaceutical delivery systems" Journal of Radiation Oncology Informatics an open-access journal that "deals with the use of methods of informatics within the medical discipline of radiation oncology" Journal of Strategic Information Systems an Elsevier journal "focuses on the management, business and organizational issues associated with the introduction and utilization of information systems as a strategic tool" Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare a SAGE journal that "provide[s] a unique perspective on how different countries and health systems are using new technology in healthcare" Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association the official journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), covering a wide array of biomedical and health informatics topics Journal of the Medical Library Association the official quarterly journal of the Medical Library Association (MLA) "that aims to advance the practice and research knowledgebase of health sciences librarianship" Knowledge and Information Systems a Springer journal that covers "new advances on all topics related to knowledge systems and advanced information systems" Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing a Springer journal that presents "experimental and theoretical developments in biomedical science and technology, and reports on advances in computer-based methodologies in these multidisciplinary subjects" Medical Care the official journal of the Medical Care Section of the American Public Health Association, "devoted to all aspects of the administration and delivery of healthcare" Medical Decision Making a bimonthly SAGE journal "offering rigorous and systematic approaches to decision making that are designed to improve the health and clinical care of individuals and to assist with health policy development" Methods of Information in Medicine a Thieme journal that concentrates on "the methodology and scientific fundamentals of organizing, representing and analyzing data, information and knowledge in biomedicine and health care" Microbial Informatics and Experimentation "an open access, peer-reviewed online journal ... which publishes high-quality research related to the application of computational methods to data from microbial organisms and systems" Milbank Quarterly a Wiley journal "devoted to scholarly analysis of significant issues in health and health care policy" MIS Quarterly a University of Minnesota-affiliated quarterly journal focused on "the enhancement and communication of knowledge concerning the development of IT-based services, the management of IT resources, and the use, impact, and economics of IT with managerial, organizational, and societal implications" Mobile Information Systems an IOS Press journal "providing a forum for state-of-the-art development and research, as well as current innovative activities in mobile information systems" Neuroinformatics a Springer journal focused on "data structure and software tools related to analysis, modeling, integration, and sharing in all areas of neuroscience research" Online Journal of Nursing Informatics an open-access journal "that focuses on nursing informatics in all practice settings" Online Journal of Public Health Informatics an open-access journal "dedicated to the dissemination of information about best [public health informatics] practices among public health practitioners, researchers, and educators" Open Applied Informatics Journal a discontinued Bentham Science open-access journal covering "all areas of informatics and applied computer science of relevance to major scientific disciplines" Open Medical Informatics Journal a discontinued Bentham Science open-access journal covering "all areas of medical informatics" Perspectives in Health Information Management an American Health Information Management Association- (AHIMA-) supported journal dedicated "to advance health information management practice and to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration between HIM professionals and others in disciplines supporting the advancement of the management of health information" PLOS Computational Biology a journal of the not-for-profit PLOS (Public Library of Science) and an official journal of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB), focused on "works of exceptional significance that further our understanding of living systems at all scales" Proceedings of the ACM SIGKDD International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining a yearly compendium of information collected during the ACM SIGKDD International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining RAIRO - Theoretical Informatics and Applications a Cambridge Journals and EDP Sciences journal covering "the area of theoretical computer science and its applications" SLAS Technology: Translating Life Sciences Innovation formerly the Journal of Laboratory Automation, this is the official bimonthly SAGE journal for the Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS) "devoted to the advancement of technology in the laboratory" Source Code for Biology and Medicine an open-access journal covering "all aspects of workflow for information systems, decision support systems, client user networks, database management, and data mining" Technology and Health Care an IOS Press journal covering the development and significance of medical and informatics technology in health care Telematics and Informatics an Elsevier "interdisciplinary journal examining the social, economic, political and cultural impacts and challenges of information and communication technologies" Telemedicine and e-Health a Liebert journal "covering the full spectrum of advances and clinical applications of telemedicine and management of electronic health records" Theoretical and Applied Informatics an inactive open-access journal analyzing informatics as it applies to networking, algorithms, engineering, as well as quantum and bioinformatics Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery a Wiley journal covering data mining and knowledge discovery as they apply to business, government, and the sciences

5.5 Standards, regulations, and guidance

The following represent some of the major instances of standards, regulations, and guidance documents affecting how medical diagnostic and research laboratories should operate. This collection doesn't represent every possibility but covers most of the significant options. In a few cases (e.g., the CLSI), there were too many items to list, and a link to the associated items was included instead.

Accreditation requirements

Accreditation requirement Description Relevant medical or research field(s) AAVLD Requirements for an AVMDL the laboratory accreditation requirements for the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians Veterinary medicine ABFT Accreditation Manual the laboratory accreditation requirements for the American Board of Forensic Toxicology Forensic medicine - toxicology AIHA-LAP Policies 2021 the laboratory accreditation requirements for the American Industrial Hygiene Association Microbiology - environmental ASCLD/LAB Supp. Reqs. for the Accreditation of Forensic Science Testing Laboratories the laboratory accreditation requirements for the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors / Laboratory Accreditation Board; NOTE: ASCLD/LAB has since merged with the ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) Forensic medicine COLA Laboratory Accreditation Standards the laboratory accreditation requirements of the Commission on Office Laboratory Accreditation See description JCI Laboratory Accreditation Standards the laboratory accreditation requirements for the Joint Commission International; applicable to microbiology, clinical chemistry, hematology, blood banking and transfusion, cytogentics, and immunology/serology labs See description NYS Department of Health - Clinical Laboratory Evaluation Program the laboratory accreditation requirements for New York State's "clinical laboratories and blood banks, including out-of-state facilities that accept clinical specimens collected in New York State" See description

Guidelines and recommendations

Guideline/Recommendation Description Relevant medical or research field(s) ACMG Standards and Guidelines for Clinical Genetics Laboratories guidelines from the American College of Medical Genetics on the laboratory "use of molecular techniques to examine heritable changes in the human genome"; a more recent version (2014) exists but may only be available to ACMG members Genetic diagnostics APHL Clinical Laboratory Preparedness and Response Guide guidelines from the Association of Public Health Laboratories and the American Society for Microbiology on clinical (and any other) laboratories handling microorganisms and toxins of elevated risk to human health and public safety Any ASM Sentinel Level Clinical Laboratory Guidelines for Suspected Agents of Bioterrorism and Emerging Infectious Diseases guidelines from the American Society for Microbiology on clinical (and any other) laboratories handling microorganisms and toxins of elevated risk to human health and public safety Any CDC Guidelines for Safe Work Practices in Human and Animal Medical Diagnostic Laboratories guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on biosafety practices in clinical diagnostic laboratories working with human and animal specimens Any CDC PHIN Messaging System guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on using the Public Health Information Network Messaging System Public health DAIDS Guidelines for Good Clinical Laboratory Practice Standards GLP guidelines from the NIH's Division of AIDS (DAIDS) for clinical research laboratories conducting testing that supports a clinical trial sponsored by DAIDS Clinical research ICAR 15 Data Exchange guidelines from the International Committee for Animal Recording for data management and transfer of animal data; though rare, may apply to the occasional veterinary laboratory Veterinary medicine NIST 800-53, Rev. 4 recommendations in the form of information security and privacy controls from the National Institute of Standards and Technology; these cybersecurity controls apply to federal systems, though they can be applied to non-federal systems just as readily Any WHO Good Clinical Laboratory Practice guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO) for organizations performing testing for clinical trials as part of good clinical practice Clinical research

Regulations and legal requirements

Regulation or legal requirement Description Relevant medical or research field(s) 5 CFR Part 930.301 U.S. Code of Federal Regulation 5 CFR § 930.301 Information systems security awareness training program; this would affect medical diagnostic and research laboratories housed in executive agencies of the U.S. government, e.g., National Institutes of Health and Federal Bureau of Investigation See description 9 CFR Part 121 U.S. Code of Federal Regulation 9 CFR § 121 Possession, Use, and Transfer of Select Agents and Toxins; this would affect medical diagnostic and research laboratories interacting with specific biological agents and toxins that pose a threat to public and animal health and safety See description 18 U.S. Code Part 220 aka EKRA 18 U.S. Code § 220 Illegal remunerations for referrals to recovery homes, clinical treatment facilities, and laboratories; aka EKRA, this affects all laboratories and their sales and contracting activities, prohibiting kickbacks and payments based on number of referrals or tests, or the amount billed (and yes, this is getting prosecuted) Any 21 CFR Part 11 U.S. Code of Federal Regulation 21 CFR § 11 Electronic Records and Signatures; this would affect medical diagnostic and research laboratories of all types interacting with electronic records Any 21 CFR Part 606 U.S. Code of Federal Regulation 21 CFR § 606 Current Good Manufacturing Practice for Blood and Blood Components; this would affect medical laboratories collecting, processing, testing, storing, and distributing blood and blood components Blood banking and transfusion medicine 21 CFR Part 812 U.S. Code of Federal Regulation 21 CFR § 812 Investigational Device Exemptions; this would affect central and contract research laboratories conducting clinical investigations of medical devices Clinical research 29 CFR Part 1910.1030 U.S. Code of Federal Regulation 29 CFR § 1910.1030 Bloodborne pathogens; this would affect medical diagnostic and research laboratories of all types that have occupational exposure risk to blood or other potentially infectious materials See description 29 CFR Part 1910.1096 U.S. Code of Federal Regulation 29 CFR § 1910.1096 Ionizing radiation; this would affect medical diagnostic and research laboratories of all types that have occupational exposure risk to ionizing radiation sources such as x-rays, CT or CAT scans, PET scans, fluoroscopy, or any nuclear medicine procedures See description 29 CFR Part 1910.1200 U.S. Code of Federal Regulation 29 CFR § 1910.1200 Hazard communication; this would affect medical diagnostic and research laboratories of all types that have occupational exposure risk to hazardous chemicals, requiring proper notification of the hazards the chemicals pose See description 29 CFR Part 1910.1450 U.S. Code of Federal Regulation 29 CFR § 1910.1450 Occupational exposure to hazardous chemicals in laboratories; this would affect medical diagnostic and research laboratories of all types that have occupational exposure risk to hazardous chemicals, requiring proper procedures and record-keeping related to workplace chemicals See description 42 CFR Part 73 U.S. Code of Federal Regulation 42 CFR § 73 Select Agents and Toxins; this would affect medical diagnostic and research laboratories "that possess SARS-CoV, Lujo virus, or Chapare virus" See description 42 CFR Part 493 aka CLIA Regulations U.S. Code of Federal Regulation 42 CFR § 493 Laboratory Requirements aka CLIA Regulations; this would affect all medical diagnostic laboratories and apply to select medical research laboratories See description 45 CFR Part 160 aka HIPAA Regulations U.S. Code of Federal Regulation 45 CFR § 160 General Administrative Requirements aka HIPAA Regulations; this would affect any medical diagnostic and research laboratory "who transmits any health information in electronic form" See description 45 CFR Part 164 aka HIPAA Regulations U.S. Code of Federal Regulation 45 CFR § 164 Security and Privacy aka HIPAA Regulations; this would affect any medical diagnostic and research laboratory "who transmits any health information in electronic form" See description CJIS Security Policy U.S. Department of Justice's Criminal Justice Information Services Security Policy; this mandates the provision of "appropriate controls to protect the full life cycle of Criminal Justice Information" for "all entities with access to, or who operate in support of, FBI CJIS Division’s services and information" Forensic medicine (see description) U.S. state-specific laboratory licensing regulations an online U.S. state licensing map by Lighthouse Lab Services which links to state-specific licensing requirements and laws Any

Standards and specifications

Though not listed below, the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) has a mountain of standards for laboratories (though pricey). There are too many to list here, so see their standards repository on their website. Similarly, ASTM International has many other informatics standards that may apply to laboratories. See their Committee E13 on Molecular Spectroscopy and Separation Science and Committee E31 on Healthcare Informatics for more standards.

Standard or specification Description Relevant medical or research field(s) https://www.astm.org/e1188-11r17.html ASTM E1188-11] ASTM International's ASTM E1188-11 Standard Practice for Collection and Preservation of Information and Physical Items by a Technical Investigator; describes best practices for the "collection and preservation of evidence for further analysis" Forensic medicine ASTM E1459-13 ASTM International's ASTM E1459-13 Standard Guide for Physical Evidence Labeling and Related Documentation; describes best practices for managing chain of custody for physical evidence Forensic medicine ASTM E1492-11 ASTM International's ASTM E1492-11 Standard Practice for Receiving, Documenting, Storing, and Retrieving Evidence in a Forensic Science Laboratory; describes best practices for physical evidence management in order to protect the chain of custody for the evidence Forensic medicine ASTM E1578-18 ASTM International's ASTM E1578-18 Standard Guide for Laboratory Informatics; provides educational guidance on the many aspects of laboratory informatics, including "issues commonly encountered at all stages in the life cycle" of such systems Any DICOM Standard the National Electrical Manufacturers Association's (NEMA) Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) standard "to transmit, store, retrieve, print, process, and display medical imaging information" Various ICD-10 and 11 Standard the World Health Organization's (WHO) International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) standard for reporting diseases and health conditions; ICD-11 goes into effect 01 January 2022 Various ISO 15189:2012 International Organization for Standardization's ISO 15189:2012 Medical laboratories — Requirements for quality and competence; this standard "specifies requirements for quality and competence in medical laboratories" and is used for developing quality management systems and confirming laboratory competency Any ISO/IEC 17025:2017 International Organization for Standardization's ISO 17025:2017 General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories; this standard "specifies the general requirements for the competence, impartiality and consistent operation of laboratories" and is used for assuaging others to the competence of the lab Any LOINC Standard the Regenstrief Institute's Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC) standard, "a common language (a set of identifiers, names, and codes) for identifying health measurements, observations, and documents" Various NAHLN HL7 Messaging Quick User Guide The Veterinary Terminology Services Laboratory, part of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, and its National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN) HL7 Messaging standards; this user guide provides the participating veterinary laboratory assistance on using the HL7 messaging protocol and NAHLN standards in order to transmit data Veterinary medicine NYS Department of Health Clinical Laboratory Standards of Practice The New York State Department of Health, Wadsworth Center's Clinical Laboratory Standards of Practice; this is a two-part collection of laboratory standards for NYS labs and those non-NYS labs that handle specimens originating in NYS, though these standards could effectively be applied by any medical laboratory; includes standards for specialty laboratories Any SNOMED CT SNOMED International's Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT) standard, for standardized medical terminology Various U.S. National Library of Medicine UMLS the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS), which "integrates and distributes key terminology, classification and coding standards, and associated resources to promote creation of more effective and interoperable biomedical information systems and services" Various VeNom Coding Group terminology VeNom Coding Group's VeNom Veterinary Nomenclature; this is a standardized veterinary terminology "for use in referral veterinary hospital electronic patient records and first opinion veterinary practice management systems" Veterinary medicine Veterinary Terminology Services Laboratory terminology options The Veterinary Terminology Services Laboratory (VTSL), part of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, and its standardized terminology resources; the VTSL maintains a variety of standardized veterinary terminologies, including "the Veterinary Extension to SNOMED CT as well as subsets for the National Animal Health Laboratory Network, AAHA Diagnostic Terms and AAEP Diagnostic Terms" Veterinary medicine

5.6 Further reading

• Alotaibi, Y.K.; Federico, F. (2017). "The impact of health information technology on patient safety". Saudi Medical Journal 38 (12): 1173–80. doi:10.15537/smj.2017.12.20631. PMC PMC5787626. PMID 29209664. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5787626. 

• Association of Public Health Laboratories (May 2019). "Laboratory Information Systems Project Management: A Guidebook for International Implementations" (PDF). APHL. https://www.aphl.org/aboutAPHL/publications/Documents/GH-2019May-LIS-Guidebook-web.pdf. 

• Fraggetta, F.; L'Imperio, V.; Ameisen, D. et al. (2021). "Best practice recommendations for the implementation of a digital pathology workflow in the anatomic pathology laboratory by the European Society of Digital and Integrative Pathology (ESDIP)". Diagnostics 11 (11): 2167. doi:10.3390/diagnostics11112167. PMC PMC8623219. PMID 34829514. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8623219. 

• Jones, R.G.; Johnson, O.A.; Batstone, G. (2014). "Informatics and the Clinical Laboratory". The Clinical Biochemist Reviews 35 (3): 177–92. PMC PMC4204239. PMID 25336763. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4204239. 

5.7 LIMSpec

LIMSpec is an ever-evolving set of software user requirements specifications for laboratory informatics systems. The specification has grown significantly from its humble origins over a decade ago. Earlier versions of LIMSpec focused on a mix of both regulatory requirements and clients' "wishlist" features for a given system. The wishlist items haven't necessarily been ignored by developers, but they do in fact have to be prioritized by the potential buyer as "nice to have" or "essential to system operation," or something in between. This latest version is different, focusing strictly on a regulatory-, standards-, and guidance-based approach to building a specification document for laboratory informatics systems.

At its core, LIMSpec is rooted in ASTM E1578-18 Standard Guide for Laboratory Informatics. With the latest version released in 2018, the standard includes an updated Laboratory Informatics Functional Requirements checklist, which "covers functionality common to the various laboratory informatics systems discussed throughout [the] guide as well as requirements recommended as part of [the] guide." It goes on to state that the checklist "is an example of typical requirements that can be used to guide the purchase, upgrade, or development of a laboratory informatics system," though it is certainly "not meant to be exhaustive."

LIMSpec borrows from that requirements checklist and then adds more to it from a wide variety of sources. An attempt has been made to find the most relevant regulations, standards, and guidance that shape how a compliant laboratory informatics system is developed and maintained. However, the LIMSpec should also definitely be considered a continual work in progress, with more to be added as new pertinent regulations, standards, and guidance are discovered.

If you've never worked with a user requirements specification document, the concept remains relatively simple to grasp. Merriam-Webster defines a "specification" as "a detailed precise presentation of something or of a plan or proposal for something." Within this organized "plan or proposal" are requirements. A requirement typically comes in the form of a statement that begins with "the system/user/vendor shall/should ..." and focuses on a provided service, reaction to input, or expected behavior in a given situation. The statement may be abstract (high-level), or it may be specific and detailed to a precise function. The statement may also be of a functional nature, describing functionality or services in detail, or of a non-functional nature, describing the constraints of a given functionality or service and how it's rendered.

An example of a functional software requirement could be "the user shall be able to query either all of the initial set of databases or select a subset from it." This statement describes specific functionality the system should have. On the other hand, a non-functional requirement, for example, may state "the system's query tool shall conform to the ABC 123-2014 standard." The statement describes a constraint placed upon the system's query functionality. Once compiled, a set of requirements can serve not only to strengthen the software requirements specification, but the requirements set can also be used for bidding on a contract or serve as the basis for a specific contract that is being finalized.

The next chapter discusses the user requirements specification, using LIMSpec as an example. You'll learn how to shape such a specification to your laboratory's needs, how to issue the specification as a request for information (RFI), and how to get the most out of it when getting decision-related information from vendors. Additionally, in Appendix 1, you'll find a blank version of LIMSpec for practical use.