The research had two motivations: (1) to inform researchers and sponsors who engage in research in emerging scientific disciplines and who may face new ethical challenges, and (2) to inform research sponsors - including government officials - who wish to encourage ethical research without unintentionally encouraging researchers to pursue their research in other jurisdictions. The authors reviewed literature from across scientific disciplines and conducted interviews with experts in the United States, Europe, and China. The goal of this project was to provide researchers, government officials, and others who create, modify, and enforce ethics in scientific research around the world with an understanding of how ethics are created, monitored, and enforced across scientific disciplines and across international borders.
Scientific research ethics vary by discipline and by country, and this analysis sought to understand those variations.
