The current system of ethical oversight in the United States is based on Institutional Review Board (IRB) review. The system was established in response to well-known and egregious mistreatment of subjects in both biomedical and social and behavioral research. In the decades since the research regulations were enacted, reaction to the burden of…

In 2019, a new national Ethics Review Authority (Etikprövningsmyndigheten, EPM) was created in Sweden. In 2020, Sweden's "Ethical Review of Research Involving Humans Act" was revised, tightening this legislation, and increasing penalties for its infraction. This article draws on empirical material generated by artistic research conducted…

We draw on three illustrative vignettes to examine how REBs manage participants' agency in the context of qualitative research. We ask: Who owns a participant's consent? Central to informed consent is the principle of "Respect for Persons," which privileges the autonomy of individuals to make decisions about what happens (or not) to…

When engaging in community-based research, it is important to consider ethical research practices throughout the project. While current research practices require many investigators to obtain approval from an ethics review board before starting a project, more is required to ensure that ethical principles are applied once the investigations begin…

There is an increased focus on fostering integrity in research by through creating an open culture where research integrity dilemmas can be discussed. We describe a pilot intervention study that used Moral Case Deliberation (MCD), a method that originated in clinical ethics support, to discuss research integrity dilemmas with researchers. Our…

The Global Code of Conduct for Research in Resource-Poor Settings (GCC) aims to stop the export of unethical research practices from higher to lower income settings. Launched in 2018, the GCC was immediately adopted by European Commission funding streams for application in research that is situated in lower and lower-middle income countries. Other…

Evidence suggests that the incidence of research misconduct is not in decline despite efforts to improve awareness, education and governance mechanisms. Two responses to this problem are favoured: first, the promotion of an agent-centred ethics approach to enhance researchers' personal responsibility and accountability, and second, a change in…

Hofmann and Holm's (2019) recent survey on issues of research misconduct with PhD graduates culminated with a notable conclusion by the authors: 'Scientific misconduct seems to be an environmental issue as much as a matter of personal integrity'. Here, we re-emphasise the usefulness of an education-based countermeasure against toxic research…

Ethical decision-making is inherent to the research ethics committee (REC) deliberation process. While ethical codes, regulations, and research standards are indispensable in guiding this process, decision-making is nonetheless susceptible to nonrational factors that can undermined the quality, consistency, and perceived fairness REC decisions. In…

Responsible research practices are critical to maintaining integrity in research and the provision of institutional trainings is an important means of promoting research integrity. However, studies show contrasting results on the efficacy of institutional training and that these approaches may not be fully effective in promoting research integrity…

Despite growing evidence to the contrary, researchers continue to posit causal links between cannabis, crime, psychosis, and violence. These spurious connections are rooted in history and fueled decades of structural limitations that shaped how researchers studied cannabis. Until recently, research in this area was explicitly funded to link…

This article is autoethnographic, based upon the authors' experiences and reflections upon encountered moments of ethical tension whilst conducting research in rural Malawi. Given that knowledge production, as a process, has been marred by colonial forms of power, the project was underpinned by efforts to achieve a decolonial approach to the…

The primary purpose of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) is to protect the rights and welfare of human research participants. Evaluation and measurement of how IRBs satisfy this purpose and other important goals are open questions that demand empirical research. Research on IRBs, and the Human Research Protection Programs (HRPPs) of which they…

Engaging citizens and patients in research has become a truism in many fields of health research. It is now seen as a laudable--if not compulsory--activity in research for yielding more impactful and meaningful citizen/patient outcomes and steering research in the right direction. Although this research approach is increasingly common and…

Consent is one necessary foundation for ethical research and it's one of the research ethics committee's major roles to ensure that the consent process meets acceptable standards. Although on Oxford 'A' REC (an NHS Research Ethics Committee based in the UK) we've been impressed by the thought and work put into this aspect of research ethics, we've…