Research Ethics Resources on the World Wide Web

[Note: The World Wide Web is subject to considerable link rot; many of the links compiled on this site in 1999 are no longer active. We will update the site as time permits and welcome suggestions for repairs or additions. In the meantime, we hope it is still useful as an outline and a conceptual system for resources on the Web. 17 September 2002]

One of the newer resources available to a teacher of research ethics is cyberspace. The World Wide Web offers a vast array of ideas and information simply waiting to be discovered. Syllabi, teaching ideas, teaching material, lecture outlines, and many other resources for the budding research ethics program await, but because of sheer volume this array can be dizzying. Therefore, in order to save you the effort of winnowing the wheat from the chaff, I have compiled a list of sites that I believe to be worthwhile.

The sites have been roughly grouped, based on their content, into the following categories:

Each category includes 1-10 sites listed by URL, followed by a brief description of the content, and my surmise on the utility of the information. Keep in mind that this is a brief list, probably only touching on the tip of the iceberg.

Electronic Ethics

These sites have to do with the ethics surrounding computer technology, including the Internet, computer engineering, etc.

• International Webmasters Association Pro-Ethics Pledge (http://www.iwanet.org/about/pro-ethics.html) Promotes the professionalization of webmasters. An on-line web ethics pledge is offered on this page, which a webmaster can electronically "sign," thus earning the organization’s certification that the signer is an ethical webmaster.
• Taylor University Computing and System Sciences Program Ethics Links (http://www.css.tayloru.edu/projects/ethics/elinks.html) Offers many links to other sites that focus on the ethics of computer science, including such general topics as Internet ethics, various professional groups’ codes of ethics, and intellectual property ethics.

Ethics Warehouses

Featuring a broad range of topics, these sites generally rely on a large number of links as opposed to original publications. In each descriptor I will try to give a general impression of the links’ focus and utility.

• Case Western Reserve University’s Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science (http://onlineethics.org) Offers case studies, various informational links, and focuses on research integrity, human subjects, and animal welfare. One link of particular interest is "Trustworthy Research, Editorial Introduction," (http://onlineethics.org/essays/connect.html) written by Caroline Whitbeck. The essay itself is very interesting and provides good theory and background as to how trust operates in the research endeavor, as well as a historical backdrop to the current state of affairs. The bulk of the bibliography refers to other sites on the web, enabling the reader to track down any interesting topics immediately.
• Core 10 – Ethics Links (http://www.saintjoe.edu/~timm/core10lks.html) Maintained by Timothy McFarland, an associate professor at Saint Joseph’s College, this site is geared toward a class on selected ethical problems from the Christian perspective. It offers broad categories that feature several links: Ethics Links; Bioethics Links; Business Ethics Links; Computer Ethics Links; Environmental Ethics Links; Catholic Sources; Ethics in Science and Technology; Theological Resources; and finally, Supreme Court Cases.
• Ethics in Science (http://www.chem.vt.edu/ethics/ethics.html) Brian Tissue of the Department of Chemistry at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University maintains this site. It is divided into two main sections, Science Ethics Resources and Selected Essays on Ethics in Science, each with multiple links. Good for general ethics in science resources, as well as more chemistry-specific articles.
• Instructional Resources in Engineering Ethics, Computer Ethics, and Research Ethics (http://www.cwru.edu/affil/wwwethics/instruction.html) Based at Case Western Reserve University, this site is part of their On-Line Ethics Center. The title is pretty much dead-on. The page contains links to papers, databases, other sources of ethics links, and teaching ideas (such as role-playing).
• On Line Science Ethics Resources (http://www.chem.vt.edu/ethics/vinny/ethxonline.html) Maintained by Brian Tissue of the Chemistry Department at Virginia Polytechnic and State University, this site is divided into two major headings, On-line Resources and Ethical Codes of Conduct, each of which with several subheadings. These subheadings are Web Sites to Search, Centers and Programs, Individuals, Miscellaneous, Institutional Policies, Professional Societies, and Publishing Guidelines. Of particular utility are some of the sites under the Individuals and Miscellaneous headings, which feature scientists’ views on scientific ethics and some interactive on-line case studies, respectively. One link, titled ETHEX, offers several case studies in genetic research and a listserv to discuss the cases, though when I visited the site it looked as though the listserv was rarely utilized.
• Science and Ethics: Links to Research Ethics Issues and Resources (http://www.phil.uga.edu/faculty/wolf/sci.htm) Features several good links to sites that feature a specific well-known case study, such as the Baltimore Case and the DeLuca Case. This site is maintained by Clark Wolf, Department of Philosophy, University of Georgia.
• The Eubios Ethics Institute’s Information Sources for Bioethics (http://www.csu.edu.au/learning/eubios/Info.htm) The Eubios Ethics Institute (http://www.csu.edu.au/learning/eubios/index.htm) is a nonprofit organization based in New Zealand and Japan. The web site given first is a large list of ethics-related links, such as ethics centers, on-line journals, and other information sources. The web site in parentheses is the home page for the Institute and may be more useful, offering on-line publications by the Institute, teaching materials, and links to various English and Japanese bioethics web sites.
• University of British Columbia’s Centre for Applied Ethics (http://www.ethics.ubc.ca/) Features a lot of good general information. Of particular use to the instructor are the links to "Applied Ethics Resources on the World Wide Web" and "Starting Points in Applied Ethics." The former hooks up the instructor to a page that offers links to the following categories: Health Care Ethics, Business Ethics, Computer and Info-Tech Ethics, Environmental Ethics, Moral/Ethical Decision Making, Media Ethics, Animal Welfare and the Ethics of Animal Use, Professional Ethics, Science and Technology Ethics, and Miscellaneous Ethics Resources. At this point, it is up to the browser to search through the links. Some are worthwhile, others are not.
• University of Pennsylvania’s The Center for Bioethics "Virtual Library" ( http://www.med.upenn.edu/~bioethic/library/resources/bioethics.html) Essentially an on-line collection of bioethics related articles. A good basic reference tool.

Policy Pages

These pages of on-line ethics policies represent pretty much the standard fare for policies regarding human subjects, radiation, and animal welfare.

• Colorado State University’s Policies on Animals (http://www.research.colostate.edu/REGULATORY/ACU/acu.htm#TOC) , Human Subjects (http://www.research.colostate.edu/REGULATORY/HR/HR.HTM) , andRadiation Safety (http://chemdat1.ehs.colostate.edu/radiation/radiation.html) These are nice examples because they are complete in what they cover, they offer links for additional information, and they are relatively interactive, in the sense that many of them can be completed on-line. The first is for animal care and use, the second is for human subjects research, and the final site is for radiation safety.
• Guidelines for Ethical Practices in Research (http://www.pitt.edu/~provost/ethresearch.html) This University of Pittsburgh site is interesting because it is designed to be proactive in stopping research misconduct by spelling out what can be construed as misconduct within the research setting. It offers links to the big and obvious no-no’s (e.g., plagiarism and misuse of privileged information). But it also offers very good suggestions about the more subtle problems, such as a researcher’s obligation to report suspected misconduct, a researcher’s obligation to publish, data management, and authorship.
• Office of Research Integrity (http://ori.dhhs.gov/)
• Policy and Procedures On Academic Integrity in Research and Publication (http://www.uiuc.edu/unit/vcres/ai/intro.html) A very clear and concise site covering scientific misconduct at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. There are two particularly good sections of this site, one that offers a definition of misconduct, and another that offers a clear procedural flow of how these cases are to be handled.
• Procedures Concerning Allegations of Misconduct in Research and Creative Activities (http://www.msu.edu/dig/miscon/index.html) An extensive web site maintained by Michigan State University mapping out their procedures in the investigation of alleged scientific misconduct. It is very detailed and takes the reader from an initial suspicion to the resolution of the case. Its writing is dense in the legalistic sense, but overall it offers a good sense of how a university has decided to handle misconduct in research cases.
• University of Arizona’s Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies (http://vpr2.admin.arizona.edu/index.htm) Features two particularly good policy sites, the links titled "Research Ethics/Integrity" and "Conflict of Interest." Other links are interesting, but these two offer on-line policies and applications.

On-Line Publications

These are publications on-line that have some relevance to research ethics.

• National Science Foundation Online Documents (http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/pubsys/browser/odbrowse.pl) A collection of online publications by NSF, including statistics reports, reports to Congress, news releases, and other such documents for the public consumption. Some of the individual reports are interesting, but it takes a good bit of looking. Some of the more interesting reports are found by searching under reports of the Office of the Inspector General, which generally offer a quick look at current ethical issues being dealt with by NSF.
• On Being A Scientist (http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/obas/) On-line copy of the book. This is a very good basic resource for anyone interested in research ethics.
• The Laboratory Primate Newsletter (http://www.brown.edu/Research/Primate/back.html) On-line database of all the past issues of The Laboratory Primate Newsletter. I haven’t checked all of the links, I have found a smattering of articles about the ethics of animal research. But be warned -- most of the articles are more geared toward sharing information about the research presently in the field and the technical side of maintaining a primate research facility.

Literature and Science

These are interesting sites that offer an interdisciplinary approach to research ethics, by blending science and literature.

• Literature and Science On-Line Syllabi Database ( http://www2.humnet.ucla.edu/projects//sls/syllabi/coursetitle.html) On-line database of syllabi for classes that look at the interplay between literature and science. Some of these syllabi are better than others, but they all offer some food for thought.
• Science-in-fiction (http://www.djerassi.com/) Offers a list of Carl Djerassi’s novels, in a genre he has termed "Science-in-fiction," not to be confused with science fiction. He writes novels about very realistic science with the goal of using fiction to highlight issues in real science. This site also offers his advice on how to use his novels as teaching tools. If you can stomach the egoism that emanates from this site, it really offers an interesting and unique approach to teaching research ethics.

Syllabi On-Line

This is a short list of on-line syllabi to give you an idea of how others are designing research ethics-related classes. In general these syllabi give an overview of the class, the schedule of readings and assignments, and finally, the list of recommended readings. The quality of the syllabi ranges from very quick sketches of the class to extremely detailed course outlines with extensive links to recommended readings.

• Courses and Syllabi (http://www.scs.usna.navy.mil/~schulze/ethics/www/courses.html) This is a list of course syllabi in computer ethics. The links seem to be very slow or inactive.
• Cyberethics Syllabi ( http://www.siu.edu/departments/coba/mgmt/iswnet/isethics/syllabi.htm) The title of this page is pretty much dead on. These are good links to fairly clear syllabi.
• Ethical Issues in Computing (http://www.rpi.edu/~johnsd/epic/materials/dgj_syl.txt) (http://www2.ncsu.edu/eos/info/csc_info/csc379/www/) (http://www.rpi.edu/~johnsd/epic/materials/br_syl.txt) This is a series of course syllabi collected at a workshop titled "Ethical and Professional Issues in Computing." Syllabi are aimed at undergraduate courses in computer ethics. The issues include intellectual property, privacy, moral responsibility, and others.
• Ethical, Social, and Political Dimensions in Science ( http://www.utep.edu/biology/courses/allchin/Biol1531/biol1531.htm) Reading list for the course offering a good broad introduction to research ethics.
• Ethics in the Physical Sciences (http://www.chem.vt.edu/ethics/sweeting/sweeting.pdf) An extremely detailed guide to creating a syllabus created by Dr. Linda Sweeting. It has an extensive list of readings in various categories, such as conflict of interest, peer relations, science and society, mentorship issues, etc. This syllabus of the course Dr. Sweeting herself teaches is found at http://www.towson.edu/~sweeting/ethics/ethicsyl.htm.
• Psychology 464E: Research Ethics (http://www.psych.purdue.edu/~sio/www464f01.htm) More of an outline of topics to cover than a syllabus. This offers a broad framework, and a few WWW reference sites. It is also fairly specific to psychology research ethics. [Link updated 17 September 2002.]
• Research Ethics (http://www.gene.com/ae/AE/AEPC/WWC/1992/research_ethics.html) An excellent site from the Woodrow Wilson Biology Institute offers a unique proposed syllabus that integrates teaching about research ethics into a series of high-school laboratory experiments. It gives a series of experiments designed to offer unethical "backdoors," or easier procedures. However, choosing such a backdoor results in erroneous data that lets the instructor know that something fishy has occurred. At this point, the instructor must address the issues of misconduct and use this as a starting point for teaching about the dangers of various forms of scientific misconduct.
• Scientific Misconduct: An Annotated Bibliography (http://www.lemoyne.edu/OTRP/otrpresources/otrp_sci-misc.html) Not a syllabus, but a very good annotated bibliography of sources dealing with scientific misconduct. The sources tend to be from both the popular press and professional journals (Science, for example) and focus on issues such as the effects of misconduct, plagiarism, fraud, and data invention.
• The Ethics of Science ( http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/restrain/crsedets/resmeth/SCIETH2/INDEX.HTM) A series of overheads, apparently designed for use in a single lecture ethics component of an undergraduate/graduate course. This site provides a broad overview of research ethics, and it really does a good job on touching on the basics of research.
• The Integrity of Scientific Practice (http://www.sts.cornell.edu/STS490.html) A syllabus for a fairly broad class taught at Cornell by a Professor Hilgartner. It includes components of philosophy, sociology, and problem solving. It offers an extensive list of class readings, and divides the course into major components by issues, i.e., fraud, plagiarism, and authorship.