Research Ethics

ISSN: 1747-0161

19 found

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  1.  20
    Assessing dual use risks in AI research: necessity, challenges and mitigation strategies.Andreas Brenneis - 2025 - Research Ethics 21 (2):302-330.
    This article argues that due to the difficulty in governing AI, it is essential to develop measures implemented early in the AI research process. The goal of dual use considerations is to create robust strategies that uphold AI’s integrity while protecting societal interests. The challenges of applying dual use frameworks to AI research are examined and dual use and dual use research of concern (DURC) are defined while highlighting the difficulties in balancing the technology’s benefits and risks. AI’s dual use (...)
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  2.  8
    Dual-use research in philosophy: can there be such a thing?Charlotte Gauckler - 2025 - Research Ethics 21 (2):286-301.
    The aim of this article is to explore whether and how the concept of dual-use can be applied to philosophical research, as well as its potential for explaining cases of misuse of philosophical theory and for justifying any restrictions on academic freedom. I argue that there are two ways in which philosophical research can be misused: by using its methods for purposes that contradict the general purposes of philosophy, and by using (parts of) a theory against the purposes intended by (...)
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  3.  24
    Conceptualizing dual use: A multidimensional approach.Martin Hähnel - 2025 - Research Ethics 21 (2):205-227.
    The problem of dual use is characterized by a wide range of activities or types of research and technology utilization. In this article, I explore the phenomenon of dual use in several steps to make it accessible for ethical inquiries: first, I examine the phenomenon in more detail; is it a genuine property of technologies and methods, a fundamental problem for research ethics, or a specific precondition for trade-off situations? Second, I show that various factors contribute to a certain good (...)
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  4.  25
    Agent regret and the moral responsibility for the misuse of research results.Jan-Hendrik Heinrichs & Serap Ergin Aslan - 2025 - Research Ethics 21 (2):245-266.
    An increasing number of research fields must expect that their projects will be classified as susceptible to misuse or otherwise security relevant, even if the reasons or criteria for this classification have not yet been uniformly developed. Research institutions will commonly distribute the obligation to predict and prevent misuse across multiple members and structures including ethics committees. However, cases of misuse occur even in spite of these precautions, raising the question of the type and distribution of responsibility for the resulting (...)
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  5.  4
    Editorial: Navigating the ethical terrain of dual use research.Jan-Hendrik Heinrichs & Serap Ergin Aslan - 2025 - Research Ethics 21 (2):203-204.
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  6.  14
    Applying Ethics in the Handling of Dual Use Research: The Case of Germany.Una Jakob, Felicitas Kraemer, Florian Kraus & Thomas Lengauer - 2025 - Research Ethics 21 (2):228-244.
    With regard to the handling of dual use research, the dominant approach in Germany aimed at mitigating dual use risks emphasizes the freedom of research and the strengthening of academic self-regulation. This article presents this approach as one example for a framework for handling security-relevant research, underlines the need for awareness-raising about risks of security-relevant research, and, more generally, highlights some of the dilemmas researchers and legislators face when dealing with security-relevant research. The article furthermore presents the key questions developed (...)
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  7.  23
    Dual use concerns in artificial intelligence and the neurosciences: How medical research can end up in war.Elisabeth Krauel & Andreas Frewer - 2025 - Research Ethics 21 (2):331-345.
    Dual Use Research of Concern (DURC) has been well analyzed regarding the life sciences. This article explores the topic of younger fields of medical research and their potential for misuse, especially in the military context. The areas of research considered are artificial intelligence, neurotechnology, and neuroenhancement. Each of these areas have brought forward highly promising new research. However, in light of the current armed conflicts in Europe and in the Middle East, there is a need to consider what the potential (...)
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  8.  33
    The ethically significant difference between dual use and slippery slope arguments, in relation to CRISPR-Cas9: philosophical considerations and ethical challenges.Mario Kropf - 2025 - Research Ethics 21 (2):346-361.
    Biomedical research, on the one hand, contributes to important goals from generation of knowledge about the human body to the development and testing of therapeutics of all kinds. On the other hand, it can produce serious and sometimes unforeseeable consequences. In the ethical analysis of these two aspects of biomedical research, two important argumentative strategies play a major role. First, slippery slope arguments are used to warn of potential risks and to highlight knowledge-based limitations. Second, a dual-use problem describes the (...)
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  9.  5
    Addressing the risks of dual use research: who is responsible?Ori Lev & Arnon Keren - 2025 - Research Ethics 21 (2):267-285.
    This article addresses the question of how the responsibilities for addressing the risks of dual use research ought to be divided. We begin by presenting the maximalist claim that proposes that since scientists are well placed to judge the potential for misuse of their studies, they alone are responsible for addressing these risks. Before assessing this position, we consider a claim that rejects the maximalist position, namely that scientists need not consider the possibility that their studies might be misused because (...)
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  10.  1
    Expanding the ethical debate on human artificial placenta trials.Alice Cavolo & Daniel Pizzolato - 2025 - Research Ethics 21 (1):9-15.
    Artificial placentas (APs) are technologies that mimic the human placenta to treat extremely preterm infants. Being an invasive and risky technology, it will raise important ethical questions for human trials. Hence, in this Topic Piece we provide a blueprint of further issues to investigate. First, counselling will have the double role of providing trial information as well as (non) treatment counselling. This requires extra training and the development of ad hoc decision aids to support counselling and parents’ decision-making. Second, more (...)
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  11.  28
    Guidance needed for using artificial intelligence to screen journal submissions for misconduct.Mohammad Hosseini & David B. Resnik - 2025 - Research Ethics 21 (1):1-8.
    Journals and publishers are increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI) to screen submissions for potential misconduct, including plagiarism and data or image manipulation. While using AI can enhance the integrity of published manuscripts, it can also increase the risk of false/unsubstantiated allegations. Ambiguities related to journals’ and publishers’ responsibilities concerning fairness and transparency also raise ethical concerns. In this Topic Piece, we offer the following guidance: (1) All cases of suspected misconduct identified by AI tools should be carefully reviewed by humans (...)
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  12.  14
    Student interactions with ethical issues in the lab: results from a qualitative study.Kelly Laas, Christine Z. Miller, Eric M. Brey & Elisabeth Hildt - 2025 - Research Ethics 21 (1):127-160.
    Student researchers encounter ethical issues daily, but little is known about their unique perspectives. This article presents the results of 30 qualitative semi-structured interviews exploring students’ views and experiences around ethical issues in research groups. During the interviews, students were asked to describe challenges and successes they have encountered in their lab, their conception of what counts as an “ethical issue in research,” and how they handle these issues when they arise. Against this background, the article discusses students’ conceptions of (...)
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  13.  18
    A rapid review of the benefits and challenges of dynamic consent.Winnie Lay, Loretta Gasparini, William Siero & Elizabeth K. Hughes - 2025 - Research Ethics 21 (1):180-202.
    Dynamic consent is increasingly recommended for longitudinal and biobanking research; however, the value of investing in such systems is unclear. We undertook a rapid review of the benefits and challenges of implementing dynamic consent by searching five databases (Ovid Medline, Ovid Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature – CINAHL) for articles published up to May 2023 that report on participants’ or researchers’ experience of dynamic consent. From 1611 papers screened, 12 met inclusion criteria. (...)
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  14.  19
    From research misconduct to disciplinary sanction: an empirical examination of French higher education case law.Olivier Leclerc & Nicolas Klausser - 2025 - Research Ethics 21 (1):34-55.
    Reporting and investigating research misconduct can lead to disciplinary proceedings being initiated, and ultimately to disciplinary sanctions being imposed on convicted scientists. The conversion of research misconduct findings into disciplinary sanctions is poorly understood. This article analyses all the disciplinary decisions handed down on appeal by the Conseil national de l'enseignement supérieur et de la recherche (CNESER) between 1991 and 2023, concerning breaches of research integrity by academics and doctoral students ( n = 333). Three findings are highlighted. Firstly, the (...)
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  15.  42
    Fostering scientific integrity and research ethics in a science-for-policy research organisation.Göran Lövestam, Susanne Bremer-Hoffmann, Koen Jonkers & Pieter van Nes - 2025 - Research Ethics 21 (1):56-75.
    The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is the European Commission’s in-house science and knowledge service, employing a substantial staff of scientists devoted to conducting research to provide independent scientific advice for EU policy. Focussed on various research areas aligned with EU priorities, the JRC excels in delivering scientific evidence for policymaking and has published numerous science-for-policy reports and scientific articles. Drawing on a scientific integrity statement, surveys among JRC’s research staff, and thematic discussions with JRC’s research leaders, the JRC has developed (...)
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  16.  25
    Facilitating research ethics in qualitative research through doctoral supervision in the context of European Commission funding.Cathrine Moe, Lisbeth Uhrenfeldt & Ingjerd Gåre Kymre - 2025 - Research Ethics 21 (1):16-33.
    The increasing need for innovative research driven by rapid global changes gives doctoral supervisors of early-stage researchers a significant role in facilitating the ethical conduct of qualitative research. In the context of European Commission funding, the demands of research ethics and integrity place a tremendous responsibility on the supervisors of early-stage researchers involved in cross-national projects. This document study seeks to illuminate the role of the supervisors in facilitating research ethics in these projects. Specifically, we describe and discuss the supervisor (...)
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  17.  18
    Research ethics in social science research during health pandemics: what can we learn from COVID-19 experiences?Tejendra Pherali, Sara Bragg, Catherine Borra & Phil Jones - 2025 - Research Ethics 21 (1):97-126.
    The COVID-19 pandemic posed many ethical and practical challenges for academic research. Some of these have been documented, particularly in relation to health research, but less attention has been paid to the dilemmas encountered by educational and social science research. Given that pandemics are predicted to be more frequent, it is vital to understand how to continue crucial research in schools and other learning communities. This article therefore focuses specifically on research ethics in educational and social science during the pandemic (...)
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  18.  10
    Negotiating local and global: Developing Social Science research ethics policy in a Central Asian context.Roza Sagitova, Zarena Syrgak Kyzy & Lynne Parmenter - 2025 - Research Ethics 21 (1):161-179.
    This paper addresses the issue of how local and global norms and requirements are negotiated in the early stages of development of Social Science research ethics policy in a Global South context. A review of relevant literature followed by analysis of relevant national and institutional policies highlights both tensions and creative potential for ongoing research ethics initiatives. It was found that safety, trust and confidentiality issues are common problems reported by social science researchers in Kyrgyzstan. National level documents do not (...)
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  19.  35
    Research misconduct in China: towards an institutional analysis.Xinqu Zhang & Peng Wang - 2025 - Research Ethics 21 (1):76-96.
    Unethical research practices are prevalent in China, but little research has focused on the causes of these practices. Drawing on the criminology literature on organisational deviance, as well as the concept of cengceng jiama, which illustrates the increase of pressure in the process of policy implementation within a top-down bureaucratic hierarchy, this article develops an institutional analysis of research misconduct in Chinese universities. It examines both universities and the policy environment of Chinese universities as contexts for research misconduct. Specifically, this (...)
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