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Sociologists have shown that moral understandings of market exchanges can differ between historical periods and institutional settings, but they have paid less attention to how producers' moral frameworks vary depending on their unequal positions within both markets and institutions. We use interviews and ethnographic observations to examine the vibrant market of research shops selling academic work to students around two of Uganda's top universities. We identify three groups of researchers—Knowledge Producers, Entrepreneurs, and Educators—who construct different professional identities and moral justifications of their trade, and who orient their market action accordingly. We demonstrate that these identities and moral frameworks reflect an interplay between the institutional contexts and the social class positions that researchers occupy within this illicit market. Knowledge Producers and Entrepreneurs both experienced a sense of "fit" with their respective institutional cultures, but the former now see their work as compromising ideals of research, whereas the latter capitalize on what they view as a broken system. Educators, disadvantaged at both institutions, articulate a framework countering the dominant institutional cultures and sympathetic to underperforming students. This approach illuminates how institutional contexts and individual class positions within them influence producers' moral frameworks, leading to differentiation of the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The essence of humanism in medicine and health care is relationships-caring relationships between clinicians and patients. While raising concerns regarding professional-patient boundaries has positively contributed to our understanding and prevention of potentially harmful boundary violations, there is controversy about which types of relationships, caring acts, and practices are acceptable versus cross boundary lines.Objective: To examine primary care physicians' practices and attitudes regarding acts that have been questioned as potentially "inappropriate" or "unethical" crossing of professional-patient boundaries.Design: Surveys conducted via in-person polling or electronic and mailed paper submissions from April 2016 to July 2017. We calculated descriptive statistics and examined associations with practices and attitudes using logistic regression.Participants: Random sample of all US primary care physicians who treat adult patients; convenience sample of attendees at medicine grand rounds presentations.Main Measures: Outcomes were self-reported practices and attitudes related to giving patients rides home, paying for patients' medication, helping patients find jobs, employing patients, going to dinner with patients, and providing care to personal friends.Key Results: Among 1563 total respondents, 34% had given a ride home, 34% had paid for medications, 15% helped patients find a job, 7% had employed a patient, 10% had dinner with patients, and 59% provided care to personal friends. A majority disapproved of dinner with a patient (75%) but approved of or were neutral on all other scenarios (61-90%).Conclusions: The medical profession is quite divided on questions related to drawing lines about appropriate boundaries. Contrary to official and widespread proscriptions against such practices (with exception of dinner dates), many have actually engaged in such practices and the majority found them acceptable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key content As with all skills, the art of reviewing a scientific paper can be acquired, refined and perfected., It is not only a compliment to be invited to review an article but the knowledge acquired in the process, along with the continuing professional development credits gained, makes it a valuable opportunity for the reviewer, quite apart from it being a service to the journal and the scientific community., This article describes the basic principles and responsibilities of reviewing a medical paper., A considered peer review gives constructive feedback to the authors, enhances the credibility and value of the journal and is a service to medical science., Learning objectives To understand the basic principles of reviewing a paper., To be aware of the responsibilities of a reviewer., To know how to write feedback for authors and the editor., Ethical issues Plagiarism can be committed by the reviewer or author., Does the allegiance of the reviewer lie with the journal or the author? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) was legalized in Canada in 2016 and amended in 2021. At the time that this study was conducted, the federal government was considering expanding the eligibility criteria to include patients whose death was not reasonably foreseeable. The purpose of this study was to better understand rural healthcare professionals' experiences with assisted dying set against the backdrop of legislative expansion. Methods: A qualitative exploratory study was undertaken with general rural practice physicians, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, ethicists, patients, and patient families in rural Southern Alberta, Canada. For this paper, data from 18 audio-recorded and transcribed semi-structured interviews with healthcare professionals were analyzed using thematic analysis. Categories and patterns of shared meaning that linked to an overarching theme were identified. Results: Between the binary positions of full support for and conscientious objection to assisted dying, rural healthcare professionals' decisions to participate in MAiD was based on their moral convictions, various contextual factors, and their participation thresholds. Factors including patient suffering; personal and professional values and beliefs; relationships with colleagues, patients and family, and community; and changing MAiD policy and legislation created nuances that informed their decision-making. Conclusions: The interplay of multiple factors and their degree of influence on healthcare professionals' decision-making create multiple decision points between full support for and participation in MAiD processes and complete opposition and/or abstention. Moreover, our findings suggest evolving policy and legislation have the potential to increase rural healthcare professionals' uncertainty and level of discomfort in providing services. We propose that the binary language typically used in the MAiD discourse be reframed to reflect that decision-making processes and actions are often fluid and situational. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractA novel advantage of the use of machine learning (ML) systems in medicine is their potential to continue learning from new data after implementation in clinical practice. To date, considerations of the ethical questions raised by the design and use of adaptive machine learning systems in medicine have, for the most part, been confined to discussion of the so-called “update problem,” which concerns how regulators should approach systems whose performance and parameters continue to change even after they have received regulatory approval. In this paper, we draw attention to a prior ethical question: whether the continuous learning that will occur in such systems after their initial deployment should be classified, and regulated, as medical research? We argue that there is a strong prima facie case that the use of continuous learning in medical ML systems should be categorized, and regulated, as research and that individuals whose treatment involves such systems should be treated as research subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This satellite symposium was the fourth in a series for editors, publishers, reviewers and all those with an interest in scientific publishing. It was held on Wednesday 25th June 2014 at the IADR International meeting in Cape Town, South Africa. The symposium attracted more than 180 attendees. This symposium placed an emphasis on how the quality of papers submitted to dental journals could be improved. The panel included representation from editors, researchers and publishers from North America, India and the Gulf States. The symposium identified a number of challenges for editors and publishers, including the poor quality of many papers submitted to dental and other scientific journals, plagiarism, attempted duplicate publication and sometimes fraudulent results. Where possible speakers are identified by name. A subsequent symposium was held during the IADR meeting in Boston on March 11th 2015. Involvement open to editors, associate editors, publishers and others with an interest in scientific publishing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The purpose of this study is to present a comprehensive overview of the ethical issues and the processes involved in research and publishing in India. The study examines the present ethical norms, guidelines, frameworks and developments in India, providing insights into the nation's current status of research and recommendations for publication. This document will be a useful starting point and reference document for those embarking on research and publication in Orthopaedics in India. Materials: A survey of the literature was done, which included scholarly papers, reports, rules, and policies pertaining to Indian publishing norms and research ethics. the document starts with a general introduction to ethics, followed by the evolution of ethics in research and the current International as well as Indian codes of ethics. Subsequently, the discussion is divided into two broad headings of ethics in research and ethics in publishing. Under each heading, there are many specific areas in orthopaedics that would require the application of a unique set of ethics. These areas are discussed separately as subheadings. Results and Discussion: The review draws attention to the complexity of ethical issues in Indian and international research and publishing in orthopaedics. Where available, specific guidelines about the topic in India or international guidelines are discussed. The importance of informed consent, data integrity, plagiarism, authorship disputes, and conflicts of interest are only a few of the key results. It is obvious that ethical norms and regulations, such as those offered by the University Grants Commission (UGC), the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and the Council of Publication Ethics (COPE) are crucial in determining how research is conducted and how papers are published. The types of studies discussed include research in humans and animals, research with stem cells, metal implants and devices, orthobiologics, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, computer modelling, virtual reality, 3D printing and bioprinting, tissue banking and data management. The roles of different personnel in research and publications are discussed. Conclusions: Ethics in research and publishing play a crucial role in establishing the authority and standard of scholarly work in India. This study underlines the key concepts of ethics that guide various types of studies and the publication process. It also highlights the requirement for frameworks and guidelines for certain unique areas of research in orthopaedics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A transformation of global health research is urgently needed if it is to eliminate long‐standing structural inequities within the field and help reduce global health disparities. Ethics has a key role to play in fostering such a transformation: it can help identify what the transformation should entail. Yet, ethics scholarship linking global health research to greater equity and social justice has limited authority and capacity to do so for two related reasons: it largely fails to apply theories and concepts of justice from the global South and it says little about whether or how to address the coloniality and epistemic injustices inherent within global health research. This paper develops a multidimensional social justice lens using social justice and decolonial theory from the global North and global South. This lens identifies five core dimensions of social justice: power, recognition, harmony, inclusion, and well‐being. This paper then applies the multidimensional lens to the global health research context. For each dimension of social justice, several key ways to transform global health research are identified and described. They include shifting control of global health research funding, education, conduct, and publishing away from the global North and making knowledge from the global South visible and valued. To conclude, potential objections are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Personnel selection research has seen an increasing interest in integrity tests. Although these tests have been found to predict a variety of workplace criteria, a long-standing criticism of integrity tests is their criterion-focussed nature. A construct-oriented approach to integrity test development involves identifying important elements of integrity and developing content to reflect those elements. Drawing upon earlier attempts to define integrity, this paper conceptualizes integrity as a behavior, and elaborates on two definitional elements, nature of standards and their referent. Undertaking a content analysis of the high-level codes of conduct of 13 military nations, this paper illustrates the application of an approach to defining integrity for use in the military context. It includes a discussion on the operationalization of integrity for assessment purposes, highlighting considerations that must be given to all aspects of the assessment development process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to synthesize previous knowledge about ethics in nurses' interprofessional collaboration in clinical practice. Although healthcare professionals have common goals and shared values, ethical conflicts still arise during patient care. We carried out a meta-synthesis of peer-reviewed papers published in any language from 2013–2019, using both electronic searches, with the CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus, and SocINDEX databases, and manual searches. We identified 4,763 papers and selected six qualitative papers, and three theoretical papers, based on predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria and quality appraisal. The studies came from the USA, Canada, Sweden, Australia, Botswana, and the Netherlands. We found that in ethics studies on nurses' interprofessional collaboration in clinical practice the focus has been on factors that affect how patients receive care. These factors were patients' wishes, whether they were told the truth about their condition, and how different professionals recognized and treated their pain. The focus in the papers we reviewed was on the roles of different professionals during the care process, including ethical conflicts with regard to their aims, commitment, and the balance of power among them and other professions. More research is needed to raise the visibility of how nurses and other professionals recognize, and evaluate, their professional and interprofessional ethics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the question of what makes an action morally worthy. I start with a popular theory of moral worth which roughly states that a right action is morally praiseworthy if and only if it is performed in response to the reasons which make the action right. While I think the account provides promising foundations for determining praiseworthiness, I argue that the view lacks the resources to adequately satisfy important desiderata associated with theories of moral worth. Firstly, the view does not adequately capture the degree to which an action has moral worth, and secondly, the view does not identify if right actions produced from overdetermined motives have moral worth. However, all is not lost; I also argue that the account can satisfy the desiderata when it attends to the agent's counterfactual motives in addition to their actual motives. By considering counterfactual motives, we can measure the robustness of the actual praiseworthy motive, and attending to motivational robustness allows the new proposal to fully satisfy the two desiderata. At the end of this paper, I respond to some criticisms typically brought against a counterfactual view of moral worth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will examine a novel argument in favour of entity grounding over fact-only grounding. The idea of this argument, roughly speaking, is that the proponents of fact-only grounding cannot provide a unified account of grounds of identity, whereas the proponents of entity grounding can. In this paper, I will give a response to this argument. Specifically, I will argue that the problem which this argument raises to the proponents of fact-only grounding is also a problem with which the proponents of entity grounding are faced. Therefore, this argument fails to show that entity grounding is superior to fact-only grounding. Moreover, I will suggest that the failure of this argument points to a general lesson about the issue of grounds of identity facts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Management of newborns with disorders of sex development (DSD), especially in deciding the need for a sex assignment surgery, is a complex matter. It is associated with many bioethical issues, such as concerns about the rights and welfare of the newborns and the reliability of parents' consent to the paternalistic disposition of physicians in making the best decisions. This paper, containing interviews with six medical experts and three religious' experts, aims to raise awareness of the multidisciplinary approach, which uses a combination of medicine, religion, and ethics in managing children with DSD, particularly in Malaysia, to avoid unnecessary psychological, biological, emotional, and societal ramifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Knowing the best way of structuring your paper when writing it, and the most appropriate journal to send it to, really helps in getting your paper accepted. Also understanding how editors and publishers think and what they expect, and knowing how the peer review process works, is invaluable insight into the publishing process. Results After attending this author workshop, one in the Elsevier Publishing Academy Workshop series, participants will have a clear idea of the steps needed to be taken before starting to write a paper. They will also be able to plan writing manuscripts using the logical step sequence – not the sequence in which the paper will be read. Authors are also made aware of what aspects of their papers Editors, Reviewers, and Publishers look at critically, and to ensure that in taking care of these areas, their papers are much more likely to be accepted. Dealing with referees’ comments and the art of polite rebuttal are also described such that these can be used to improve the submitted paper suitably. Sensitive areas such as publishing ethics, plagiarism, duplicate publishing, etc. are also clearly explained such that participants have a clear understanding of what their responsibilities are, what is allowed, and what is not permitted. Conclusions These insights into the publishing process will enable the participants to be more confident as an author in the world of science publishing, and so should help them get their papers published more easily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A group of researchers came together during the COVID-19 pandemic to conduct an observational study on trail use behaviour. The purpose of this paper is not to report on the trail data collected, but to reflect on the research process during an unprecedented time. Specifically, the objectives of the paper are to identify challenges and tensions of collecting data during a pandemic, and reflect on the unanticipated rewards that arose while conducting such research. The paper relies on vignettes/reflections from seven researchers who shared stories that exemplified their data collection experiences during the first three months of the project. The researchers' reflections provide an insider view into the challenges they faced. Using thematic analysis, themes about logistical difficulties, safety concerns, sense of time, and making connections were identified. The challenges and the importance of the researchers' relationships with one another were evident in the reflections. In sharing their reflections, the hope is that their experiences may inform future fieldwork during difficult periods. This study examined some of the challenges of collecting data during a pandemic and the tensions that occurred, but there are lessons here for other stressful and unique research situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conducting research in emergency settings is paramount to advance knowledge and experiences on dealing with critically ill patients. However, the involvement of highly vulnerable subjects, who are mostly incapable of consenting to research participation is challenging. This research paper describes the extent of emergency research and its related ethical issues within emergency settings in the Middle East. A literature review covering several databases was conducted. Several studies conducted within the emergency departments in the Middle Eastern region were located. All studies focused on provision of emergency care, while none described aspects of emergency research. Current literature indicates a dearth of research concerning emergency research settings in developing countries mainly in the Middle Eastern region. Up to the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research paper to review the available literature on emergency research in the Middle East. Findings from this review suggests that more efforts focusing on emergency research should be encouraged and stimulated in the region, in order to improve the effectiveness and safety of healthcare provision to critically ill patients within emergency departments. Adding to that, our findings stimulate the needs for regulatory bodies and regulations that help overcome the main ethical issues surrounding the principle of obtaining informed consents in emergency settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the Dementia Enquirers approach to dementia research, and the 10 local projects which have been funded in the first wave of the programme. The paper is written by six people with dementia with expertise by experience, supported by a traditional academic with expertise by research. This co-production enables the voices of people with dementia to be heard, and expands the field of disability studies. The authors discuss problems with traditional academic research, and the different ways that people with dementia go about research. Two examples of research projects led by people with dementia are discussed. The paper explores difficulties people with dementia have had with formal research ethics procedures and how they propose to do things differently. In conclusion, the authors challenge mainstream dementia research to do things differently, and to understand the potential contributions of people with dementia. People with dementia can conduct research People with dementia understand ethics and can come to considered judgements about capacity, consent and the risk of harm. People with dementia may sometimes enjoy advantages in their ways of working Mainstream research and research governance needs to adapt, if people with dementia are to be included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Moral distress is recognized as an international problem that contributes to decreased work productivity, job dissatisfaction and intent to leave for adult Critical Care nurses. Aim: To explore Critical Care nurses moral distress levels using the Moral Distress Scale Revised (MDS‐R) and its relationship with intention to stay. The study reported in this paper was part of a larger study that also investigated Critical Care nurses' work environment in Canada and the Midlands region of the UK. Study design: During January to August 2017 a cross‐sectional survey was distributed to adult Critical Care nurses in the Midlands region of the UK. Methods: Surveys were distributed to adult Critical Care Registered Nurses in the Midlands region of the UK examining moral distress levels and intention to stay in Critical Care, the organization (NHS Trust) and in the nursing profession. Results: Two hundred sixty‐six number of a potential sample of 1066 Critical Care nurses completed the survey (25% response rate). Age and moral distress were significantly positively correlated with intention to stay on their current unit (r = 0.16, P =.05), indicating older nurses were more likely to stay in the critical care unit. Moral distress was negatively correlated with intent to stay scores, showing critical care nurses with higher levels of moral distress were less likely to stay on their unit (r = −0.20, P =.02). Moral distress was also significantly negatively correlated with intention to stay with their current employer (r = −0.28, P <.001). Nurses that stated they had high rates of moral distress were more likely to consider leaving their current employer. Conclusion: Moral distress appears to be an issue among adult Critical Care nurses requiring further exploration and development of effective strategies to reduce this phenomenon and stabilize the workforce by reducing turnover. Relevance to clinical practice: By identifying the top causes of moral distress, tools and strategies can be developed to allow the Critical Care nurse to work within an ethically safe clinical environment and reduce the turnover of experienced adult Critical Care nurses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports the results of an exploratory online survey among German, Austrian, and Swiss hospital chaplains (n = 158, response rate 17%) to identify the ethical conflicts they encounter in their work. Respondents indicated that questions surrounding end-of-life care are predominant among the conflicts faced. Chaplains get involved with these conflicts most often through the patients themselves or through nursing staff. Most encounters occur during pastoral care visits rather than in structured forms of ethics consultation such as clinical ethics committees. The results add to the ongoing discussion of chaplains as agents in ethics consultation within healthcare systems as well as their specific role and contribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global health practitioners and policymakers have become increasingly vocal about the complex challenges of identifying and quantifying the causes of death of the world's poorest people. To address this cause-of-death uncertainty and to minimise longstanding sensitivities about full autopsies, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have been one of the foremost advocates of minimally invasive autopsy technology (MIA). MIA involves using biopsy needles to collect samples from key organs and body fluids; as such, it is touted as potentially more acceptable and less invasive than a complete autopsy, which requires opening the cadaver. In addition, MIA is considered a good means of collecting accurate bodily samples and can provide the crucial information needed to address cause-of-death uncertainty. In this paper, we employ qualitative data to demonstrate that while MIA technology has been introduced as a solution to the enduring cause-of-death uncertainty, the development and deployment of technologies such as these always constitute interventions in complex social and moral worlds; in this respect, they are both the solutions to and the causes of new kinds of uncertainties. We deconstruct the ways in which those new dimensions of uncertainty operate at different levels in the global health context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Management of biosecurity threats to forests and indigenous trees needs to address the legacy of colonising practices that have prohibited diverse knowledges from being included. This work is urgent and challenging in the context of mobile tree pathogens, investment in climate mitigation through tree planting and greater legal recognition of Indigenous rights and those of trees. While a transition towards shared, collective responsibility for trees and treescapes is compelling, its conceptualisation in practice remains underdeveloped. This is particularly the case when considering tree-biosecurity relations. This paper shows the positioning work a team of social scientists undertook to enable polyvocal imagining of biosecurity possibilities, which trees so urgently need. Situated in Aotearoa|New Zealand and Cymru|Wales, this team of social scientists engaged with colonising forces (of which social science is also a part) to position research for biosecurity and with trees. Presented here are their reflections informed by literature and document reviews as well as research team discussions. Released somewhat from the constraints of displaced ways of knowing human dimensions of trees by means of connecting with Indigenous (especially Māori) scholarship, the research project became more capable of connecting other relations too, between people and nature, knowledge and action, science and society, research and management. The relational approach developed widens the potential for tree-human relations and supports the creation of biosecurity knowledge, systems and practices, not through one but multiple worldviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As technology advances and genomic testing becomes commonplace, incidental findings, or the discovery of unrelated results, have increased. The American College of Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) established recommendations for the return of pathologic variants in 78 genes in the clinical setting based on medically actionable conditions from genes linked with preventable or treatable diseases. However, the lack of policy in the research setting poses a serious ethical dilemma for researchers, potentially threatening the participant's trust and willingness to contribute to a process with more significant risk than benefit. Purpose: Our goal was to determine the preferred ethical approach to handling incidental research findings and suggest a new standard for investigators and participants. Methods: By employing Wueste's IAJD Framework of ethical evaluation, the current research policy, as well as a proposed policy, were analyzed, and then a policy analysis was employed to ascertain feasibility. Results and Discussion: The current policy of leaving the decision of returning incidental findings up to the researcher's discretion is an ethical failure from the consequential, deontological, and intellectual freedom perspectives. However, the proposed policy of implementing the ACMG guidance for researchers to satisfy ethical demands reinforces its moral fortitude. In a period of increasing public awareness, the community, which is the prospective research pool, has increased demands for autonomy and less paternalistic behavior from medicine and science. This paper synthesizes recommendations by numerous organizations to establish a mutually beneficial policy that will ensure the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) goal, stated in the 2014 Joint Rule, of making participants "partners" in research a reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper provides an introduction to research in the field of image forensics and asks whether advances in the field of algorithm development and digital forensics will facilitate the examination of images in the scientific publication process in the near future. Design/methodology/approach: This study looks at the status quo of image analysis in the peer review process and evaluates selected articles from the field of Digital Image and Signal Processing that have addressed the discovery of copy-move, cut-paste and erase-fill manipulations. Findings: The article focuses on forensic research and shows that, despite numerous efforts, there is still no applicable tool for the automated detection of image manipulation. Nonetheless, the status quo for examining images in scientific publications remains visual inspection and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future. This study summarizes aspects that make automated detection of image manipulation difficult from a forensic research perspective. Research limitations/implications: Results of this study underscore the need for a conceptual reconsideration of the problems involving image manipulation with a view toward the need for interdisciplinary collaboration in conjunction with library and information science (LIS) expertise on information integrity. Practical implications: This study not only identifies a number of conceptual challenges but also suggests areas of action that the scientific community can address in the future. Originality/value: Image manipulation is often discussed in isolation as a technical challenge. This study takes a more holistic view of the topic and demonstrates the necessity for a multidisciplinary approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent work on empathy has focused on the phenomenon of feeling on behalf of, or for, others, and on determining the role it ought to play in our moral lives. Much less attention, however, has been paid to 'feeling-with.' In this paper, I distinguish 'feeling-with' from 'feeling-for.' I identify three distinguishing features of 'feeling-with,' all of which serve to make it distinct from empathy. Then, drawing on work in feminist moral psychology and feminist ethics, I argue that 'feeling-with' has unique moral value over and above 'feeling-for.' I end by rebutting some likely objections to the claim that 'feeling-with' is morally valuable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I argue, that if it is metaphysically possible for it to have been the case that nothing existed, then it follows that the right modal logic cannot extend D, ruling out popular modal logics S4 and S5. I provisionally defend the claim that it is possible for nothing to have existed. I then consider the various ways of resisting the conclusion that the right modal logic is weaker than D. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research regulations around the world do not impose any limits on the risks to which consenting adults may be exposed. Nonetheless, most review committees regard some risks as too high, even for consenting adults. To justify this practice, commentators have appealed to a range of considerations which are external to informed consent and the risks themselves. Most prominently, some argue that exposing consenting adults to very high risks has the potential to undermine public trust in research. This justification assumes that it is not the magnitude of the risks themselves which raises concern, but the way in which the public might respond to them. This justification thus depends on the possibility that the public will find out about the risks and respond to them in the specified way. Like the other proposed external justifications, it thereby fails to offer a reason to think that exposing consenting adults to very high risks is problematic in itself. In the present paper, we describe and endorse a different justification. Rather than appealing to external factors, we argue that limits on risks for consenting adults trace to internal limits on informed consent, to limits on the things consent can and cannot make ethically permissible. In doing so, we aim to provide a firmer conceptual basis for the view that some research risks are unacceptably high, no matter how the research is conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 has distorted the teaching and learning pedagogy, as well as the research process of higher education institutions, particularly in Africa. This pandemic-imposed restrictions on movement and demanded a shift to online interaction. This blurred the lines between work and home life and has exacerbated the deep chasms of inequality upon which South African society operates. Established on empirical evidence, substantiated by documentary data, this paper explores how these existing inequalities, exacerbated by COVID-19, manifest in the postgraduate research space of South African higher education institutions. Qualitative data were collected during a recorded focus group interview, and thematically analysed. Through a Neo-Weberian lens, it will illustrate that the pandemic, among other challenges, posed significant ethical challenges to honours students completing their research projects, in turn, shifting policies and requirements of higher education institutions (HEIs) themselves to ensure the protection of their students and quality of research output. These include concerns around digital exclusion, locating participant consent, as well as the collection of data via online channels (Zoom, WhatsApp, Skype) and their privacy parameters. Considering these gulfs of inequality, the paper recommends key requirements for the future of ethically sound research in higher education in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the article "Inefficacy Interim Monitoring Procedures in Randomized Clinical Trials: The Need to Report," by E. L. Korn and B. Freidlin. In the article the authors offer their opinions on clinical trials and on several assertions and results which are found in Korn and Freidlin's article.

This paper aims at connecting Self-Determination Theory (SDT) with research on moral identity. It is argued that SDT provides a unique and integrative framework for addressing important questions that have guided research on moral identity for many years: What is a moral identity? How is it linked to moral action? How do moral identities develop? In the present paper, moral identity is conceptualized as a goal of moral action. Individuals want to maintain their moral identity, which in turn motivates them to act morally. Yet, moral identity motivation is not uniform. In line with SDT, it is possible to differentiate between more or less external and internal forms of moral identity motivation. The exact link between moral identity and moral action depends on the type of moral identity motivation involved. Development of moral identity trends towards more internal forms of moral identity motivation, which renders development an influential factor in shaping individuals' motivation to act morally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Since the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, interest in the ethical and methodological challenges involved in conducting research with children has increased considerably. Researchers who work with children have to take into account children's intrinsic physical, mental and emotional vulnerability as well as their interdependence with other family members, particularly their parents. This is especially challenging in research that seeks to explore children's lived experience in relation to aspects of their family lives. Objective: We aimed to identify specific ethical issues and ways of overcoming challenges in conducting research with children on some aspects of their family lives. Methods: We conducted a scoping review according to the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews Checklist. Seventeen publications were selected for data extraction and synthesis, 4 of which were original studies and 13 reflexive papers. Results: Our results confirm that a research project that asks children about aspects of their family lives leads to a number of ethical tensions: While children depend on their parents and family to ensure that their safety and physical needs are met, they also greatly contribute to the development of family dynamics. We highlight methodological strategies that allow researchers to mitigate the ethical challenges that are inherent to this type of research. Discussion/conclusion: A promising approach is to use participative methods at each stage of research, including developing a trusting and triadic partnership that includes parents, children, a multidisciplinary research team and professional gatekeepers. Benefits as well as possible risks for participants should also be considered when children and their parents are engaged in a study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Since the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, interest in the ethical and methodological challenges involved in conducting research with children has increased considerably. Researchers who work with children have to take into account children's intrinsic physical, mental and emotional vulnerability as well as their interdependence with other family members, particularly their parents. This is especially challenging in research that seeks to explore children's lived experience in relation to aspects of their family lives. Objective: We aimed to identify specific ethical issues and ways of overcoming challenges in conducting research with children on some aspects of their family lives. Methods: We conducted a scoping review according to the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews Checklist. Seventeen publications were selected for data extraction and synthesis, 4 of which were original studies and 13 reflexive papers. Results: Our results confirm that a research project that asks children about aspects of their family lives leads to a number of ethical tensions: While children depend on their parents and family to ensure that their safety and physical needs are met, they also greatly contribute to the development of family dynamics. We highlight methodological strategies that allow researchers to mitigate the ethical challenges that are inherent to this type of research. Discussion/conclusion: A promising approach is to use participative methods at each stage of research, including developing a trusting and triadic partnership that includes parents, children, a multidisciplinary research team and professional gatekeepers. Benefits as well as possible risks for participants should also be considered when children and their parents are engaged in a study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Re-contacting minors enrolled in research upon their reaching the age of majority or maturity to seek their autonomous consent to continue their participation is considered an ethical requirement. This issue has generally been studied in the context of minors who are actively involved in the research. However, what becomes of this issue when the minor has been withdrawn from the research or has been lost to follow-up? May researchers re-contact the minor at the age of majority or maturity under these circumstances to seek the consent of the minor to re-join the research? In this paper, we explore the ethical permissibility of recontacting minors whose participation in research has ended, once they have reached the age of majority or maturity. In particular, we identify scenarios in which the participation of a minor in a research project may end and discuss factors that can help determine such an ethical permissibility. Finally, we discuss the practical and ethical challenges of re-contact and present re-consent models that may be used by researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community engagement (CE) is gaining prominence in global health research. A number of ethical goals–spanning the instrumental, intrinsic, and transformative–have been ascribed to CE in global health research. This paper draws attention to an additional transformative value that CE is not typically linked to but that seems very relevant: solidarity. Both are concerned with building relationships and connecting parties that are distant from one another. This paper first argues that furthering solidarity should be recognized as another ethical goal for CE in global health research. It contends that, over time, CE can build the bases of solidaristic relationships—moral imagination, recognition, understanding, empathy—between researchers and community members. Applying concepts from existing accounts of solidarity, the paper develops preliminary ideas about who should be engaged and how to advance solidarity. The proposed approach is compared to current CE practice in global health research. Finally, the paper briefly considers how solidaristic CE could affect how global health research is performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinical innovation and research on maternal–fetal interventions have become an essential for the development of perinatal medicine. In this paper, we present an ethical argument that the professional virtue of integrity should guide perinatal investigators. We present an historical account of the professional virtue of integrity and the key distinction that this account requires between intellectual integrity and moral integrity. We identify implications of both intellectual and moral integrity for innovation, research, prospective oversight, the role of equipoise in randomized clinical trials, and organizational leadership to ensure that perinatal innovation and research are conducted with professional integrity. Perinatal investigators and those charged with prospective oversight should be guided by the professional virtue of integrity. Leaders in perinatal medicine should create and sustain an organizational culture of professional integrity in fetal centers, where perinatal innovation and research should be conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The circumstances of a public health emergency (PHE) shape reasoning and decision-making in ways that deviate from routine circumstances, where adherence to established values, principles, and methodologies is expected. Understanding what drives these deviations is critical to assessing their ethical consequences. In this paper we describe four conditions that influence decision-making during PHEs, in particular regarding the deployment and conduct of research on experimental or novel biomedical interventions. These four conditions are politicization, urgency, uncertainty, and fear. We argue that taken together these four conditions create pressure to address the most visible targets of immediate crisis events, driving emphasis on research and development of biomedical interventions. However, this emphasis raises ethical concerns regarding the extent to which attention to and investment in the underlying causes of PHEs, particularly impoverished global public health infrastructure, is diminished as a result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is limited guidance about whether and how to provide psychological assessment results to research participants. This paper considers several ethical challenges associated with offering individual research results in psychological assessment research. Additionally, the process used to return individual results within a study examining neurodevelopmental effects of anesthesia exposure in children and adolescents is described. Almost all participants requested to know if results were concerning; however, only around a third of those with concerning findings sought additional feedback. Ongoing research and guidance are necessary to establish evidence-based practices and manage challenges that may emerge when disclosing such results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To promote social justice and equity, global health research should meaningfully engage communities throughout projects: from setting agendas onwards. But communities, especially those that are considered disadvantaged or marginalised, rarely have a say in the priorities of the research projects that aim to help them. So far, there remains limited ethical guidance and resources on how to share power with communities in health research priority-setting. This paper presents an "ethical toolkit" for academic researchers and their community partners to use to design priority-setting processes that meaningfully include the communities impacted by their projects. An empirical reflective equilibrium approach was employed to develop the toolkit. Conceptual work articulated ethical considerations related to sharing power in g0l0o0bal health research priority-setting, developed guidance on how to address them, and created an initial version of the toolkit. Empirical work (51 in-depth interviews, 1 focus group, 2 case studies in India and the Philippines) conducted in 2018 and 2019 then tested those findings against information from global health research practice. The final ethical toolkit is a reflective project planning aid. It consists of 4 worksheets (Worksheet 1- Selecting Partners; Worksheet 2- Deciding to Partner; Worksheet 3- Deciding to Engage with the Wider Community; Worksheet 4- Designing Priority-setting) and a Companion Document detailing how to use them. Reflecting on and discussing the questions in Worksheets 1 to 4 before priority-setting will help deliver priority-setting processes that share power with communities and projects with research topics and questions that more accurately reflect their healthcare and system needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I discuss the question of partiality and impartiality in the application of triage. Triage is a process in medical research which recommends that patients should be sorted for treatment according to the degree or severity of their injury. In employing the triage protocol, however, the question of partiality arises because socially vulnerable groups will be neglected since there is the likelihood that the social determinants of a patient's health may diminish her chance of survival. As a process that is based on the severity of a patient's injury, triage will be unfair, and hence negatively partial, to socially vulnerable people. Thus, I aim in this paper to show that the triage protocol fails as an impartial evaluative process because its only aim is to maximize survivability. I contend that: (i) triage would lead to the neglect of the social condition of patients or victims, and (ii) it will only serve the utilitarian purpose of maximization of outcomes which may not be justified in some cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACTCOVID-19 is compromising all aspects of society, with devastating impacts on health, political, social, economic and educational spheres. A premium is being placed on scientific research as the source of possible solutions, with a situational imperative to carry out investigations at an accelerated rate. There is a major challenge not to neglect ethical standards, in a context where doing so may mean the difference between life and death. In this paper we offer a rubric for considering the ethical challenges in COVID-19 related research, in the form of an ethics toolkit for global research developed at the University of Edinburgh in collaboration with more than 200 global researchers from around the world. This toolkit provides a framework to support confrontation of ethical conflicts through the integrated and iterative analysis of Place, People, Principles and Precedents, throughout the research journey. Two case analyses are offered to exemplify the utility of the toolkit as a flexible and dynamic tool to promote ethical research in the context of COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1966, Henry Beecher published his foundational paper "Ethics and Clinical Research," bringing to light unethical experiments that were routinely being conducted by leading universities and government agencies. A common theme was the lack of voluntary consent. Research regulations surrounding laboratory experiments flourished after his work. More than half a century later, we seek to follow in his footsteps and identify a new domain of risk to the public: certain types of field experiments. The nature of experimental research has changed greatly since the Belmont Report. Due in part to technological advances including social media, experimenters now target and affect whole societies, releasing interventions into a living public, often without sufficient review or controls. A large number of social science field experiments do not reflect compliance with current ethical and legal requirements that govern research with human participants. Real-world interventions are being conducted without consent or notice to the public they affect. Follow-ups and debriefing are routinely not being undertaken with the populations that experimenters injure. Importantly, even when ethical research guidelines are followed, researchers are following principles developed for experiments in controlled settings, with little assessment or protection for the wider societies within which individuals are embedded. We strive to improve the ethics of future work by advocating the creation of new norms, illustrating classes of field experiments where scholars do not appear to have recognized the ways such research circumvents ethical standards by putting people, including those outside the manipulated group, into harm's way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The qualitative social changes experiencing in this millennium are characterized primarily by globalization and the internationalization of economic processes. These changes require creating innovation approaches to corporate management to lead to companies' better economic results and thus provide them with a competitive advantage. Today, companies must respond quickly to the needs of the external and internal environment, be in close contact with customers, and support internal business activity. The paper aims to assess and evaluate selected companies' ethical credibility in Slovakia based on the research conducted at the Technical University in Zvolen. The results of the research evaluate the risks of ethical credibility in selected companies in Slovakia. The auhtors build the desired way of behaving and acting of all stakeholders. As a bearer of ethical-moral norms and principles, corporate culture comes to the fore as an indisputable factor in the success of a company in the competition, which acquires a global platform. The currently ongoing economic transformation process creates such conditions for companies' activities, which require a significant increase in their activities' efficiency and improved customer needs satisfaction, which causes the need for radical changes. The changes concern in particular, how business entities react to their internal or external environment. Risk is a term that refers to an uncertain outcome with a possible adverse condition. Risk means a threat, a potential problem, the possibility of failure, damage, loss or destruction. Risk expresses a certain degree of uncertainty, i.e. the probability of achieving a result different from the expected result. Examples of minimizing the risks arising from the unreliability and distrust to employees could improve work efficiency, interpersonal relationships and work ethic, and the work environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on our experiences as an anthropologist and a researcher-activist working with a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) rights NGO in Malawi, this paper presents reflections on the ethics of engaging LGBTI-identified Malawians in research and other projects. While community engagement is normatively discussed as a tactic for creating meaningful dialogue and collaboration between researchers and the researched, this paper advocates a broadening of the term ‘research’ to encompass NGO work and activities with LGBTI persons in order to complicate normative discussions of harm - rooted in biomedical research or clinical trial contexts - that cast it primarily as visible bodily or mental suffering that befalls research participants. First, we discuss some less obvious risks faced by LGBTI-identified volunteer peer educators as they go about their work, and, second, we show how seemingly minor benefits such as provision of per diems for attending workshops generate patron/client relations and mostly unfulfilled expectations for future financial or other support that might be construed as a form of harm. Throughout, we emphasize how LGBTI people learn to navigate an ‘economy of harms,’ a network of social relations that hinge on transactions and obligations that are simultaneously risky and potentially profitable. A more capacious interpretation of harms and benefits - from the perspective of those on the front lines of projects - that arise through modes of engagement can nuance our thinking about the ethics of engagement with key populations living in impoverished and rights-constrained settings such as Malawi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the medical practice in China, giving and taking "red envelopes" (monetary gifts) is a common phenomenon although few openly admit it. This paper, based on our empirical study including data collected from interviews and questionnaires with medical professionals and patients, attempts to explore why "red envelopes" have become a serious problem in the physician-patient relationship and how the situation can be improved. Previous studies show that scholars tend to correlate the spread of "red envelopes" in health care sector to the commercialization trend, the general erosion of traditional values, and the lowering of the moral level in the medical field. However, in this paper, the authors argue that medical professionals' choice of taking "red envelopes" is actually more a way to compensate for their problematic self-image and marred dignity in real practice. Medical professionals in China as a whole are in an embarrassing situation where the work pressure and income, and the sense of pride that used to be part of their profession are not comparable to each other. Under this circumstance, we believe that the effective way to deal with the "red envelopes" issue does not lie solely in introducing more stringent regulations or granting medical professionals higher payments, but rather in protecting and enhancing the professional dignity of all those working in healthcare. And on top of that, there must also be effort to cultivate a more favorable moral environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The average number of authors listed on contributions to scientific journals has increased considerably over time. While this may be accounted for by the increased complexity of much research and a corresponding need for extended collaboration, several studies suggest that the prevalence of non-deserving authors on research papers is alarming. In this paper a combined qualitative and quantitative approach is suggested to reduce the number of undeserving authors on academic papers: 1) ask scholars who apply for positions to explain the basics of a random selection of their co-authored papers, and 2) in bibliometric measurements, divide publications and citations by the number of authors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychiatric research has increased remarkably over recent decades to help in understanding the current trends and better therapeutic options for illness. On the other hand, there is also a trend toward higher rates of retraction of published papers in the recent years. Ethics is required to maintain and increase the overall quality and morality of research. Psychiatric research faces several unique ethical challenges. Ethical guidelines are very important tool of research which safeguards participants; however, there is a dearth of such guidelines in India. The present paper aims to review available ethical issues and guidelines pertaining to psychiatric research. A search was conducted on Pubmed using search terms (e.g., "ethics," "psychiatry," "research"). Relevant studies were selected for the review after manual screening of title/abstract. Additional sources were referred to using cross references and Google Scholar. Psychiatric research has several important ethical issues which are different from other medical disciplines. These issues are related to informed consent, confidentiality, conflict of interest, therapeutic misconception, placebo related, vulnerability, exploitation, operational challenges, among others. The current paper has made several recommendations to deal with ethical challenges commonly faced in psychiatric research. The ethical guidelines are utmost needed for Indian psychiatric research. Specific guidelines are lacking pertaining to psychiatric research. The issues and recommendations merit a further discussion and consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obtaining 'informed consent' from every individual participant involved in health research is a mandatory ethical practice. Informed consent is a process whereby potential participants are genuinely informed about their role, risk and rights before they are enrolled in the study. Thus, ethics committees in most countries require 'informed consent form' as part of an ethics application which is reviewed before granting research ethics approval. Despite a significant increase in health research activity in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) in recent years, only limited work has been done to address ethical concerns. Most ethics committees in LMICs lack the authority and/or the capacity to monitor research in the field. This is important since not all research, particularly in LMICs region, complies with ethical principles, sometimes this is inadvertently or due to a lack of awareness of their importance in assuring proper research governance. With several examples from Nepal, this paper reflects on the steps required to obtain informed consents and highlights some of the major challenges and barriers to seeking informed consent from research participants. At the end of this paper, we also offer some recommendations around how can we can promote and implement optimal informed consent taking process. We believe that paper is useful for researchers and members of ethical review boards in highlighting key issues around informed consent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When widespread use of sex-selective abortion and sex selection through assisted reproduction lead to severe harms to third parties and perpetuate discrimination, should these practices be banned? In this paper I focus on India and show why a common argument for a ban on sex selection fails even in these circumstances. I set aside a common objection to the argument, namely that women have a right to procreative autonomy that trumps the state's interest in protecting other parties from harm, and argue against the ban on consequentialist grounds. I perform a pairwise comparative analysis of sex selection and its plausible alternatives and argue that that the ban fails to improve the state of affairs relative to a scenario without a ban. The ban makes the situation worse, especially for mothers and their daughters. India should therefore repeal its ban on sex selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the relationship between investigative credibility and the sources of funding associated with gambling research. Some researchers argue against accepting funding from gambling industry sources; similarly, they decline to participate in activities directly or indirectly sponsored by gambling industry sources. In contrast, these anti-industry investigators evidence less resistance toward accepting funds from sources other than industry, for example, governments, because they believe that they have greater independence, reliability, and validity, and less undue influence and/or interference. We organize this article, around six primary issues: (1) researchers making a priori judgments that restrict positions towards industry associated research; (2) the potential negative impacts of holding such a position; (3) a description of the different sources of funding available to support gambling-related research; (4) an examination of the extant empirical support associated with the sources of funding and whether such support evidences bias; (5) a description of six cases illustrating how refusing to participate in any project funded by the industry can adversely influence the advancement of science and, at times, be itself unethical; and finally, (6) we suggest some remedies to advance solutions to this problem by stimulating the participation of reluctant researchers to work towards a greater harmony, keeping in mind that the pivotal goal of our work is to increase our knowledge in different area of science and to harness it to public goods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forensic psychologists' role is well established, and they are rightly well regulated because their decisions and behaviour can have a significant impact on people's rights and interests. Their ethical integrity, however, partly hinges on the psycholegal research products (data, methods and instruments) that they and others use. The ethical regulation of researchers who produce products and their research processes is, however, fragmented, limited and narrow and largely focuses on domestic research. Relatively few scholars have examined the regulation of psycholegal research or commented on the ethical implications of recent court decisions. The purpose of this paper is to start a debate about the ethical regulation of researchers in the psycholegal field and consider methods of improving it to maintain society's trust in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]