Ethics tools for strengthening ethics review: A scoping Review

Ethics review of research and innovation activities face growing challenges due to rapid scientific and technological advances, interdisciplinary research, and wider societal implications, such as environmental impacts and value conflicts.

To promote more adaptive and robust governance, we conducted a scoping review of tools and frameworks developed to enhance ethics review.

A systematic search of Scopus and Web of Science identified 39 relevant publications describing conceptual and practical ethics tools, including scenario-based planning, ethical matrices, anticipatory governance frameworks, participatory deliberation models, decision-support protocols, and computational approaches. These tools were applied across domains such as artificial intelligence, genomics, conservation, and public health. Key themes included early-stage ethics integration, participatory engagement, managing value conflicts, and addressing uncertainty. The tools were mapped within a two-dimensional matrix describing variations in engagement (expert-driven vs. participatory) and temporal orientation (reactive vs. anticipatory), illustrating a shift toward anticipatory and participatory approaches.

These findings indicate a move from static, checklist-based reviews to dynamic, participatory, and forward-looking ethics governance.