Dynamic consent is increasingly recommended for longitudinal and biobanking research; however, the value of investing in such systems is unclear. We undertook a rapid review of the benefits and challenges of implementing dynamic consent by searching five databases (Ovid Medline, Ovid Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, Cumulative Index to Nursing and…

The last decade has seen a rise in big data approaches, including in the humanities, whereby large quantities of data are collected and analysed. In this paper, we discuss long-form audio recordings that result from individuals wearing a recording device for many hours. Linguists, psychologists and anthropologists can use them, for example, to…

Automated, wearable cameras can benefit health-related research by capturing accurate and objective information about individuals' daily experiences. However, wearable cameras present unique privacy- and confidentiality-related risks due to the possibility of the images capturing identifying or sensitive information from participants and third…

Global health emergencies often lead to a proliferation of health-related research and resultant data, which is shared across borders to help control the outbreak of disease and support decision-making regarding public health interventions. However, efforts to share data can be hindered by diverse international ethical and legal frameworks. The…

Community-based mental health care providers (CBMHCPs) are increasingly contacted by external researchers for research study recruitment. Unfortunately, many do not possess the resources or personnel with the skills required to successfully evaluate research proposals for risks. Providing access to clients and client health information can result…

Very few attempts have been made to survey patient opinions, particularly regarding the use of residual biospecimens and health information in research, to clarify their values. We conducted a questionnaire survey that targeted outpatients of a university hospital to gauge their awareness levels and understand patient perspectives on research that…

There has been considerable debate around the ethical issues raised by data-driven technologies such as artificial intelligence. Ethical principles for the field have focused on the need to ensure that such technologies are used for good rather than harm, that they enshrine principles of social justice and fairness, that they protect privacy,…

Privacy by Design, a globally accepted framework for personal data management and privacy protection, advances the view that privacy cannot be assured solely by compliance with regulatory frameworks but must become an organisation's default mode of operation. We are proposing a similar template for the research ethics review process. The Research…

Background: Africa is increasingly becoming an important region for health research, mainly due to its heavy burden of disease, socioeconomic challenges, and inadequate health facilities. Regulatory capacities, in terms of ethical review processes, are also generally weak. The ethical assessment of social and behavioral research is relatively…

We argue a main but underappreciated reason why the Facebook emotional contagion experiment is ethically problematic is that it co-opted user data in a way that violated identity-based norms and exploited the vulnerability of those disclosing on social media who are unable to control how personal information is presented in this technologically…

This research ethics article focuses on an unexpected finding from my Master's thesis examining bereaved participants' experiences of taking part in sensitive qualitative research: some participants wanted their real names used in my written dissertation and any subsequent empirical publications. While conducting interviews for my thesis and…

In this article I reflect on my experiences of using Facebook as a recruitment tool. Although there were many benefits associated with using this method of recruitment, there were also several unanticipated ethical dilemmas that arose. This article reflects on these dilemmas, locating them within some broader concerns around online research and…

Published in 2014, the Facebook "emotional contagion" study prompted widespread discussions about the ethics of manipulating social media content. By and large, researchers focused on the lack of corporate institutional review boards and informed consent procedures, missing the crux of what upset people about both the study and…

With its wealth of readily and often publicly available information about Web users' lives, the Web has created new opportunities for conducting online research. Although digital data are easily accessible, ethical guidelines are inconsistent about how researchers should use them. Some academics claim that traditional ethical principles are…

This paper argues that specific individual informed consent and other forms of consent predicated on a right to autonomy may not in all circumstances be appropriate for the establishment and use of large data sets of health information. We suggest that there are inherent failings in such an approach, shortcomings that we analyse below. We argue…