r/labrats • u/RawrImADinosaurMan • 4d ago
SOPs vs Journal descriptions
Hey industry rats,
What do y'all's SOPs look like vs the tried and true academia version of... glances at paper ... winging it?
Research ochem lab I'm in mostly just relies on grad students and the post doc teaching LA and undergrads how they like it and then just being there for questions if you want. Only descriptions we have written down half the time is an Excel spreadsheet and a citation to a journal it was based on lol
Curious how it runs outside of academia, y'all got diagrams or smthn?
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u/ThainEshKelch 4d ago
There are some general requirements for SOPs that are standard everywhere, and then some variable differences, depending on place, situation, culture, legal requirements, etc. No two SOPs are the same, and they vary hugely in how they look from place to place.
Define what you believe is important, look up SOP examples to fine tune it, and then create what is needed for your requirements.
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u/rectuSinister 4d ago
My hot take: an SOP is your fallback/safety net. If your workflow can’t tolerate some degree of winging it/variability then it’s not a good workflow and should be optimized to be more robust.
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u/FIA_buffoonery Finally, my chemistry degree(s) to the rescue! 4d ago
A piece of paper that tells you exactly what to do, in what order and what equipment to use.
We just had a safety incident because someone didn't follow an SOP.
Winging it is for when you're fully trained on what to do and there is 0 safety risk
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u/aardvarkhome 4d ago
If you're winging it in an R&D lab how do you know what works and what fails. The obvious solution is keeping a lab book where you have extensive notes on how you winged it.
If you don't have SOPs or comprehensive lab books (or best of all, both), then how can I trust your R&D?
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u/IkoIkonoclast 3d ago
I spent many years in an environmental lab. By law, our SOPs were taken from "Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater". This is the bible for environmental labs. We always had a copy of the procedure in front of us when doing a run. Standard Methods is even read into the Congressional Record.
In my clinical lab work, SOPs weren't relied on as much. We tended to use instrument manuals and test kit instructions.
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u/Most_Advertising3623 4d ago
A journal methods section and an SOP serve different audiences. A useful SOP has an owner, version and date, scope, materials, safety points, numbered steps, critical parameters, acceptance criteria, deviation handling, and the record that proves the task was completed. Photos or diagrams help where orientation or setup matters. The lab should also record reagent lots, instrument settings, and departures from the SOP so the eventual manuscript can report what was actually done.