SciDev.Net

How can countries measure scientific integrity?

Countries should measure themselves against a set of standards to assess the integrity of their research bases, says a Nature editorial.

OPINION | 5 February 2009 | EN | ES | 中文

Research ethics must still apply in disaster zones

Disaster research can help future interventions, but urgency should never excuse exploitation of survivors, says Athula Sumathipala.

OPINION | 8 October 2008 | EN | FR | 中文

We must restore scientific integrity in Indian research

For its own international credibility, Indian science must be seen to deal with scientific misconduct, says N. Raghuram.

OPINION | 3 July 2008 | EN

Public-private partnerships fail to involve African researchers

Public-private partnership organisations have failed to include African researchers on an equal basis, say T. J. Tucker and M. W. Makgoba.

OPINION | 23 May 2008 | EN | 中文

Africa must develop its own ethical review

Africa should develop its own ethical review systems, not copy foreign arrangements, say Carl H. Coleman and Marie-Charlotte Bouësseau.

OPINION | 29 January 2007 | EN

A growing fear: 'pharmanoia'

Jon Cohen says extreme distrust of pharmaceutical companies detracts attention from legitimate ethical questions about clinical research.

OPINION | 22 February 2006 | EN | 中文

UNESCO has given bioethics a human face

By giving bioethics a human face, UNESCO's much-maligned Universal Declaration on Bioethics is a triumph for the developing world, says Mônica C. Serra.

OPINION | 1 December 2005 | EN

Preventing HIV: controversial research must go on

Robert Grant and colleagues say that despite controversy surrounding trials of promising HIV preventive drugs, we must encourage such research rather than try to curb it.

OPINION | 30 September 2005 | EN | 中文

Nothing to declare: UNESCO on ethics, human rights

UNESCO's declaration on bioethics and human rights is too weak to be of value, and could harm the world's poor if developing countries accept it, says Richard Ashcroft.

OPINION | 9 September 2005 | EN

Incentives can be ethical in clinical trials

Researchers running clinical trials in developing countries should focus more on ethics and worry less about the incentives offered to potential participants, say Ezekiel Emanuel and colleagues.

OPINION | 28 July 2005 | EN

View from China: the right to scientific knowledge

Understanding science and its implications is a human right, argues Xiong Lei, in this perspective from China.

OPINION | 26 July 2005 | EN | 中文

Human rights must be respected in HIV/AIDS trials

Treating research participants from vulnerable populations ethically means more than considering drugs' potential side-effects; researchers must also frame their work within a human rights context, argues Bebe Loff.

OPINION | 20 July 2005 | EN

Abandoned HIV trials indicate urgent need for dialogue

Stakeholders in HIV/AIDS research must interact at all stages of a clinical drug trial to avoid it becoming held up in ethical debate, say Jerome A. Singh and Edward J. Mills.

OPINION | 20 July 2005 | EN

Studies of doctors' ethics 'should be universal'

Improving standards of medical ethics worldwide requires evaluating them in developed as well as in developing countries, says Solomon R. Benatar.

OPINION | 19 July 2005 | EN

When blood becomes a good

Felipe Velden calls for greater scrutiny of biomedical research on Brazilian indigenous groups.

OPINION | 6 May 2005 | EN

Drug trials can still be valid without a placebo

Brooks Jackson and Thomas Fleming argue that drug trials can be scientifically valid if the placebo is replaced with a drug known to be both harmless and effective.

OPINION | 28 April 2005 | EN

Standards of care in research 'need local context'

Zulfiqar Bhutta argues that standards of care in research need to reflect local conditions, not simply follow those of the West.

OPINION | 15 November 2004 | EN

Ethics review procedures for research in developing countries: a basic presumption of guilt

Robert Gilman and Hector Garcia argue that the ethics review system for international research is unnecesarily complex and legalistic, and does not result in better protection for research particiants.

OPINION | 3 August 2004 | EN

Rotavirus vaccines: making guinea pigs of the poor?

Dherain Narula, Lokesh Tiwari and Jacob Puliyel say that rotavirus vaccination trials in the developing world are exploiting the poor.

OPINION | 16 July 2004 | EN

A golden chance for medical ethics in Kenya

Pamela Andanda argues that a court challenge in Kenya over the conduct of trials involving a potential HIV/AIDS vaccine could bring much-needed legal order into an area that currently suffers from 'name and shame' tactics.

OPINION | 15 June 2004 | EN