Ethics tools for strengthening ethics review: A scoping Review

Area of Science:

• Research Ethics
• Science and Technology Governance
• Societal Implications of Science

Background:

• Ethics review faces challenges from rapid scientific advances, interdisciplinary research, and societal concerns.
• Growing complexity necessitates more adaptive and robust governance frameworks for research and innovation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a scoping review of tools and frameworks designed to improve ethics review processes.
• To identify and categorize existing methods for enhancing ethics governance.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search of Scopus and Web of Science databases.
• Identification and analysis of 39 publications detailing conceptual and practical ethics tools.
• Mapping of identified tools based on engagement (expert-driven vs. participatory) and temporal orientation (reactive vs. anticipatory).

Main Results:

• Identified diverse ethics tools including scenario-based planning, ethical matrices, and computational approaches.
• Tools applied across domains like artificial intelligence, genomics, conservation, and public health.
• Key themes: early ethics integration, participatory engagement, value conflict management, and uncertainty handling.

Conclusions:

• Ethics review is shifting from static, checklist-based methods to dynamic, participatory, and forward-looking approaches.
• The findings highlight a trend towards anticipatory and participatory governance models in research ethics.