This article provides a review of scholarly approaches to assessing the impact of certification standards for sustainability. While we observe that some theoretical advances have afforded a better understanding of the potential impacts of adopting such standards, we also find that progress has been constrained due to a strong emphasis on assessing impact via linear causal pathways. This linear focus on the net effects for single stakeholders, such as farmers and producers, local communities and ecosystems, falls short of adequately capturing (...) the broader impact of certifications across social and ecological dimensions. Inspired by theories on complex systems thinking, we present a framework based on a systems-based impact logic that better captures and assesses the impacts of certification standards within broader social-ecological systems. Our framework can be used as a heuristic to design impact-related studies and assess the impact of certification standards across disciplinary vantage points and empirical contexts. (shrink)

Increasing ethical attention and debate is focusing on whether individuals who take part in clinical trials should be given access to post-trial care. However, the main focus of this debate has been upon drug trials undertaken in low-income settings. To broaden this debate, we report findings from interviews with individuals (n = 24) who participated in a clinical trial of a closed-loop system, which is a medical device under development for people with type 1 diabetes that automatically adjusts blood glucose (...) to help keep it within clinically recommended ranges. Individuals were recruited from UK sites and interviewed following trial close-out, at which point the closed-loop had been withdrawn. While individuals were stoical and accepting of the requirement to return the closed-loop, they also conveyed varying degrees of distress. Many described having relaxed diabetes management practices while using the closed-loop and having become deskilled as a consequence, which made reverting back to pre-trial regimens challenging. Participants also described unanticipated consequences arising from using a closed-loop. As well as deskilling, these included experiencing psychological and emotional benefits that could not be sustained after the closed-loop had been withdrawn and participants reevaluating their pre- and post-trial life in light of having used a closed-loop and now perceiving this life much more negatively. Participants also voiced frustrations about experiencing better blood glucose control using a closed-loop and then having to revert to using what they now saw as antiquated and imprecise self-management tools. We use these findings to argue that ethical debates about post-trial provisioning need to be broadened to consider potential psychological and emotional harms, and not just clinical harms, that may result from withdrawal of investigated treatments. We also suggest that individuals may benefit from information about potential nonclinical harms to help make informed decisions about trial participation. (shrink)

Ioannidis [Why most published research findings are false. PLoS Med 2: e124 ] identifies six factors that contribute to explaining why most of the current published research findings are more likely to be false than true, and argues that for many current scientific fields, claimed research findings may often be simply accurate measures of the prevailing bias. In this article, we argue that three “hot” areas in current biological research, viz., agent-based modeling, evolutionary developmental biology, and systems biology, are especially (...) prone to the flaws. (shrink)

Following a detailed review of the accomplishments and aspirations of the Journal of Research Practice, we have undertaken a restructuring of the editorial board, with inputs from people associated with this journal. In designing the new structure, we have taken into account the need for building the journal’s profile in the six focus areas recently clarified: (1) Research Applications, (2) Research Spaces, (3) Research Education, (4) Research Experiences, (5) Research Philosophy, and (6) Research on Research. Focus Editors will ensure that (...) the journal remains well engaged with the developments in these focus areas. The new structure allows us to involve all contributors to the journal in playing a role to enhance the journal’s relevance to researchers and reflective professionals. This restructuring exercise has presented us with an opportunity to build on the strengths of the journal and address areas of concern so as to strengthen the journal’s quality, relevance, and impact. A review of different notions of impact has led us to a set of proposed measures for enhancing the relevance and utilisation of the journal in future. (shrink)

International law is not merely a set of rules or processes, but is a professional activity practised by a diversity of figures, including scholars, judges, counsel, teachers, legal advisers and activists. Individuals may, in different contexts, play more than one of these roles, and the interactions between them are illuminating of the nature of international law itself. This collection of innovative, multidisciplinary and self-reflective essays reveals a bilateral process whereby, on the one hand, the professionalisation of international law informs discourses (...) about the law, and, on the other hand, discourses about the law inform the professionalisation of the discipline. Intended to promote a dialogue between practice and scholarship, this book is a must-read for all those engaged in the profession of international law. (shrink)

With this article we introduce a new article category in the journal, as announced in this issue's editorial--Viewpoints & Discussion. Articles under this category are intended to provide authentic and qualified opinions on topics relevant to the journal. These articles and follow-up discussions will pass through an accelerated, mainly editorial, review process. We invite readers to respond to such articles by sharing their personal thoughts and experiences, as well as to initiate new discussions. We hope these contributions will make the (...) journal a site for lively discussions on research practice. For this first "Viewpoint" we have selected a topic that should be of interest to many readers: What key research competencies will researchers and professionals need to have in the future? To introduce the topic, we look into a recent comparative study on this question that compares the situation in eight research-intensive countries. Reports on the study are available for free download, which can serve as a basis for discussion. In keeping with the idea of "Viewpoints & Discussion," no claim to offering a systematic and scholarly account of the topic is intended; the only aim is to throw a spotlight on a theme of current interest and to suggest a few pertinent conjectures and questions for discussion. (shrink)

With this issue of the Journal of Research Practice, we initiate a conceptual framework for thinking and writing about research, defining areas of editorial focus, and indexing work published in the journal. The framework takes the form of a concept hierarchy that offers index terms at three interrelated levels: (1) focus areas for reflection on research practice within which the journal aims to achieve excellence and strengthen its profile and visibility, (2) subject areas relevant to research practice that the journal (...) aims to cover and in terms of which it defines its focus areas, and (3) keywords for capturing the content of research work done in these subject areas or for reflecting and writing about it. Focus areas are characterized by assigned subject areas; subject areas are characterized by assigned keywords. The concept hierarchy is part of a more comprehensive initiative to strengthen the journal's profile and visibility, an initiative that will also include a restructuring of the editorial team and new roles for the journal's dedicated reviewers and active readers. The article introduces an initial version of the concept hierarchy, explains its intended use and further development, and situates it in the larger effort of which it is a part. (shrink)

This editorial article reports on the progress that the Journal of Research Practice (JRP) has achieved in its ongoing development since November 2011, when a number of editorial initiatives were announced. Several new initiatives are also proposed. In addition, there are some current announcements, including a number of recent awards, distinctions, and nominations.

Patient-reported outcomes are frequently used for medical decision making, at the levels of both individual patient care and healthcare policy. Evidence increasingly shows that PROs may be influenced by patients’ response shifts and dispositions. We identify how response shifts and dispositions may influence medical decisions on both the levels of individual patient care and health policy. We provide examples of these influences and analyse the consequences from the perspectives of ethical principles and theories of just distribution. If influences of response (...) shift and disposition on PROs and consequently medical decision making are not considered, patients may not receive optimal treatment and health insurance packages may include treatments that are not the most effective or cost-effective. We call on healthcare practitioners, researchers, policy makers, health insurers, and other stakeholders to critically reflect on why and how such patient reports are used. (shrink)

The notion of function is indispensable to our understanding of distinctions such as that between being broken and being in working order (for artifacts) and between being diseased and being healthy (for organisms). A clear account of the ontology of functions and functioning is thus an important desideratum for any top-level ontology intended for application to domains such as engineering or medicine. The benefit of using top-level ontologies in applied ontology can only be realized when each of the categories identified (...) and defined by a top-level ontology is integrated with the others in a coherent fashion. Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) has from the beginning included function as one of its categories, exploiting a version of the etiological account of function that is framed at a level of generality sufficient to accommodate both biological and artifactual functions. This account has been subjected to a series of criticisms and refinements. We here articulate BFO’s account of function, provide some reasons for favoring it over competing views, and defend it against objections. (shrink)

Although international research is increasing in volume and importance, there remains a dearth of knowledge on similarities and differences in “national human research ethics”, that is, national ethical guidelines, Institutional Review Boards, and research stakeholder’ ethical attitudes and behaviors. We begin to address this situation by reporting upon our experiences in conducting a multinational study into the mental health of children who had a parent/carer in prison. The study was conducted in 4 countries: Germany, Great Britain, Romania, and Sweden. Data (...) on NHREs were gathered via a questionnaire survey, two ethics-related seminars, and ongoing contact between members of the research consortium. There was correspondence but even more so divergence between countries in the availability of NEGs and IRBs and in researcher’ EABs. Differences in NHREs have implications particularly in terms of harmonization but also for ethical philosophy and practice and for research integrity. (shrink)

BackgroundCRISPR-Cas9, a technology enabling modification of the human genome, is developing rapidly. There have been calls for public debate to discuss its ethics, societal implications, and governance. So far, however, little is known about public attitudes on CRISPR-Cas9. This study contributes to a better understanding of public perspectives by exploring the various holistic perspectives Dutch citizens have on CRISPR-Cas9.MethodsThis study used Q methodology to identify different perspectives of Dutch citizens (N = 30) on the use of CRISPR-Cas9. The Q-sort method (...) aims at segmenting audiences based on the structural characteristics of their perspectives. Participants individually ranked 32 statements about CRISPR-Cas9 and discussed their rankings in small groups. By-person factor analysis was performed using PQMethod. Participants’ contributions to the discussions were used to further make sense of the audience segments identified.ResultsFive perspectives on CRISPR-Cas9 were identified: (1) pragmatic optimism (2) concerned scepticism; (3) normative optimism; (4) enthusiastic support; and (5) benevolent generalism. Each perspective represents a unique position motivated by different ranking rationales. Sorting rationales included improving health, preventing negative impacts on society, and fear of a slippery slope. Overall, there is broad, but not universal support for medical uses of CRISPR-Cas9.ConclusionsResearch on CRISPR-Cas9 should prioritise the broadly supported applications of the technology. Research and public debates on CRISPR-Cas9, its uses, its broader implications, and the governance of CRISPR-Cas9 are recommended. A discourse that includes all perspectives can contribute to the embedding of future uses of CRISPR-Cas9 in society. This study shows that Q methodology followed by group discussions enables citizens to contribute meaningfully to discourses about research. (shrink)

The matter of salary levels and professional advancement is much discussed and debated today in business and academe. This paper examines the matter of salary determinants for law professors in colleges of management in the U.S. with an emphasis on examining how gender might affect professorial salary and rank. By focusing on one discipline in today''s academe and in a college having great student demand (management) coupled with a professed commitment to women''s rights and by holding constant variables relevant to (...) salary and rank, this study, addresses the matter of whether gender is a factor in determination of academic rank and salary. This study used correlation and path analysis in arriving at our conclusions. Our sample size meets statistically acceptable parameters. Our results corroborate earlier research which finds significant pay differences between women and men, but they show that at least for the sample of legal studies professors in this study, these pay differences are attributable to the number of years spent in academe. If women have only recently enjoyed opportunities for careers in this discipline, they do not have as much seniority, on average as men. Consequently, if universities pay salaries at least partly according to seniority, women''s salaries are likely to be lower than men''s salaries, as our study indicates. At the same time, however, even after controlling for seniority and other factors that might affect rank, there are still significantly fewer women in the higher ranks. These results point to the operation of a glass ceiling which restricts promotional opportunities for women in other fields. (shrink)

In Neutrality and the Academic Ethic, distinguished philosopher Robert L. Simon explores the claim that universities can and should be politically neutral. He examines conceptual questions about the meaning of neutrality, distinguishes different conceptions of what neutrality involves, and considers in what sense, if any, institutional neutrality is both possible and desirable. In Part II, a collection of original and previously published essays provides different views on these and related issues.

La notion d'" unité " est, avec celle de l'" être ", du " bien " et du " beau ", l'une des plus déterminantes de l'histoire de la philosophie et trouve sa place autant dans la pensée ancienne que dans la philosophie moderne. Les néoplatoniciens, tout spécialement, en ont fait la source et le principe explicatif de toute la réalité, à la fois au-delà de l'être, de la pensée et du discours. Les contributions qu'on lira ici, rassemblées sous ce (...) thème, veulent rendre hommage à la recherche foisonnante mais elle-même inspirée et pour ainsi dire " unifiée " par l'idée de l'Un, du professeur Werner Beierwaltes, dont les études sur Plotin, Proclus, Jean Scot Érigène, Nicolas de Cues, Schelling, Hegel et Heidegger, ont marqué la recherche contemporaine. (shrink)

C’est en grande partie grâce à sa connaissance de l’œuvre de la prophétesse Antoinette Bourignon (1616-1680) que le cartésien Pierre Poiret est devenu un fervent défenseur de la mystique. Après leur rencontre en 1676, Poiret devint son disciple le plus dévoué et l’éditeur en chef de ses écrits. Cependant, à l’époque de leur première rencontre il n’était pas du tout prévu qu’il assume ce rôle. En fait, de nouvelles recherches montrent que pendant deux ans, Bourignon a continué à mettre Poiret (...) à l’épreuve. Les épreuves auxquelles Bourignon l’a soumis ne l’ont pas détourné d’elle, ce qui ne fait que montrer à quel point il la croyait vraiment prophétesse de Dieu. Cet article se concentre d’une part sur l’importance de Bourignon pour Poiret, et d’autre part sur la question de son rôle dans la postérité de cette femme mystique. Qu’est-ce qui l’a poussé à passer dix ans de sa vie au service de Bourignon? (shrink)

In the museum of Yozgat in eastern-central Anatolia four eleventh century A.D. seals of Byzantine dignitaries are stored, all of them originate probably from central Anatolia. Basileios Trichinopodes was hypatos and strategos of Anazarbus in Cilicia in the middle of the eleventh century, Katakalon was hypatos and strategos of Larissa in Cappadocia in the third quarter of the same century, a civil dignitary, probably named Pirmanes, was protospatharios and chartoularios of the Bucellarian Theme in the second half of the tenth (...) or early eleventh century, and Samuel Alousianos, a grandson of the last Bulgarian tsar Ivan Vladislav, was proedros and dux, probably fighting the Turkish invaders in Eastern Anatolia during the difficult years in the 1070s. (shrink)

Este artículo académico trata sobre cómo Aquino entendía: a) la aprehensión de las primeras nociones intelectas universales: ens, verum et bonum simpliciter; b) la fructificación de los primeros preceptos y de los segundos preceptos prácticos en la persona genuinamente humana o racional; c) la ética, ley moral natural, como esencialmente derivada de la ontología. Ens compuesto de naturaleza humana, entendida metafísicamente y acto del ser, ordenado al bonum; d) por tanto, la ley natural solo tiene sentido desde una visión metafísica, (...) no meramente física o material. (shrink)

This article explains how Aquinas understood: a) apprehension of the first intellectual concepts ens, verum et bonum simpliciter; b)establishment of the first and second commandments of natural law in a person, genuinely human or rational; and c) ethics as essentially derived from ontology.Metaphysically understood, Ens is a compound of human nature and act of being; d) therefore, natural law only makes sense from a metaphysical point of view, not a physical or material one.

Werner Beierwaltes n'est pas seulement un des très grands et sûrs spécialistes du néoplatonisme, comme suffirait à l'attester son livre de 1965 : Proclus. Traits fondamentaux de sa métaphysique, ou ses éditions commentées de Plotin, mais c'est aussi un historien animé de préoccupations systématiques directement en prise sur la philosophie contemporaine et son rapport hypercritique à la tradition métaphysique. Le présent ouvrage, qui est comme le premier volet d'une trilogie dont les deux autres parties sont encore inédites en français (...) (Identität und Differenz, Denken des Einen), en fournit une éclatante illustration : ce qui caractérise en effet ce style d'enquête, ce n'est pas seulement une érudition qui se révèle toujours irréprochable dans la diversité de ses domaines d'application (l'antiquité tardive, Jean Scot Erigène, le moyen âge, Nicolas de Cues, l'idéalisme allemand, ou encore la pensée contemporaine : Adorno, Heidegger), ce n'est pas non plus seulement une parfaite maîtrise du "comparatisme", comme pourrait le laisser croire à tort la juxtaposition des deux termes "platonisme" et "idéalisme", dans l'intitulé du présent volume, mais c'est bien plutôt l'originalité d'une méthode herméneutique qui s'attache à dégager des structures de pensée et à confronter, au-delà d'une problématique étroite de la "réception", des philosophèmes majeurs dont la continuité finit par dessiner une histoire entièrement différente de la mise en perspective historiale heideggérienne ou des simplifications de l'antiplatonisme commun de l'époque. Se trouvent ainsi interrogées, dans le cadre d'une nouvelle histoire-en -effet (ou "histoire de l'efficience"), la problématique des noms divins et du Nom exodique, de Philon d'Alexandrie à Maître Eckhart, en passant par Augustin ; la problématique plotinienne et néoplatonicienne de l'Un, de la pensée et de la réflexivité constitutive de la conscience de soi ; la question de la proposition spéculative à la lumière des interprétations d'Exode III, 14. Ce qui jette une lumière, aussi vive que neuve, sur l'appropriation du néoplatonisme par l'idéalisme allemand (Schelling, Hegel), et éclaire en retour, avec la notion même de dialectique, de négativité, et de dialectique négative, l'ensemble de la problématique fondamentale de l'ontothéologie. Actualité du néoplatonisme, entendu comme "forme de vie", tel pourrait être l'enseignement critique et positif d'une reconstruction de longue haleine, jalonnée par sept ouvrages, et dont on trouvera ici comme le portique. (shrink)

La méthodologie est pertinente pour la science économique, car beaucoup d'économistes se demandent non sans angoisse si leur objet est une science, ou l'amorce d'une science, ou bien désirent ardemment imiter les sciences. Ce texte donne un bref aperçu des développements en philosophie des sciences, en général, et plus particulièrement en ce qui concerne l'economie. Partant de problèmes liés à l'échec de tentatives pour établir l'asymétrie dans ces domaines, il s'en saisit pour faire mouvement vers la sociologie de la connaissance (...) scientifique et son appréhension du principe de symétrie, théme inspiré par l'intérêt croissant que les universitaires travaillant sur les sciences portent à la culture et à la pratique scientifiques. Réagissant à ce mouvement, ceux qui s'interessent à la méthodologie économique commencent à engager des études d'histoire de la science économique très pointues, essayant d'éviter une histoire qui donnerait dans le style « Whig », consistant à voir dans les développements de l'economie un progrès inéluctable vers une analyse économique sans cesse améliorée. Plutôt que de se livrer à une description du savoir économique, ils proposent une illustration de ce qui lui est arrivé, en le rapportant à la présence d'économistes dans uncontexte à facettes multiples de personnes et d'idees. Plutôt que de fournir des rationalisations après-coup, ils font une analyse historique de certaines négociations et alliances mouvantes ayant des retombées sur la science économique. Travaux qui, tels qu'ils sont discutés dans ce texte, doivent être encouragés, car ils sont en symétrie avec les changements de la science économique. (shrink)