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Preventing Diffusion of Moral Responsibility in Big Team Science: Taking an Ecosystem Approach
The Hastings Center Report
|July 20, 2026
Summary
New research ethics frameworks are needed for big team science. Current analyses may be too narrow, potentially limiting their usefulness for addressing the evolving landscape of biomedical research collaboration.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical research ethics
- Big team science
- Research networks
Background:
- Established research ethics frameworks face challenges due to evolving scientific practices.
- Biomedical research is increasingly conducted by very large scientific teams.
- Existing ethical frameworks may not adequately address the complexities of large-scale collaborative research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze ethical issues at scale in big team science.
- To fill a gap in research ethics frameworks concerning research networks.
- To evaluate the scope and utility of current ethical analyses for large scientific teams.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of ethical issues in big team science.
- Focus on the mesolevel of research networks.
- Examination of traditional ethical concerns like authorship and data sharing.
Main Results:
- The study identifies a gap in research ethics for big team science.
- Authors focus on ethical issues at the network level.
- Critique suggests the scope of analysis may be limited.
Conclusions:
- Current ethical frameworks may not fully encompass the complexities of big team science.
- The focus on traditional issues and narrowly defined "big teams" might limit the analysis's future utility.
- Further development of ethical frameworks is needed for large-scale scientific collaborations.
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