Special Section on Ethics in Health Informatics

To summarize significant research contributions on ethics in medical informatics published in 2019.

An extensive search using PubMed/Medline was conducted to identify the scientific contributions published in 2019 that address ethics issues in medical informatics. The selection process comprised three steps: 1) 15 candidate best papers were first selected by the two section editors; 2) external reviewers from internationally renowned research teams reviewed each candidate best paper; and 3) the final selection of three best papers was conducted by the editorial committee of the Yearbook.

The three selected best papers explore timely issues of concern to the community and demonstrate how ethics considerations influence applied informatics.

With regard to ethics in informatics, data sharing and privacy remain primary areas of concern. Ethics issues related to the development and implementation of artificial intelligence is an emerging topic of interest.