Bioethics

Bioethics is the study of the typically controversial ethical issues emerging from new situations and possibilities brought about by advances in biology and medicine. It is also moral discernment as it relates to medical policy and practice. Bioethicists are concerned with the ethical questions that arise in the relationships among life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, politics, law, and philosophy. It also includes the study of the more commonplace questions of values ("the ethics of the ordinary") which arise in primary care and other branches of medicine.

History

Etymology

The term Bioethics (Greek bios, life; ethos, behavior) was coined in 1926 by Fritz Jahr, who "anticipated many of the arguments and discussions now current in biological research involving animals" in an article about the "bioethical imperative," as he called it, regarding the scientific use of animals and plants. In 1970, the American biochemist Van Rensselaer Potter also used the term with a broader meaning including solidarity towards the biosphere, thus generating a "global ethics," a discipline representing a link between biology, ecology, medicine and human values in order to attain the survival of both human beings and other animal species.

Bioethics (journal)

Bioethics is a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell in association with the International Association of Bioethics. The editors-in-chief are Ruth Chadwick (Cardiff University) and Udo Schüklenk (Queen's University). In 2011 Bioethics celebrated 25 years of publication with a conference and a special issue of the journal.

Abstracting and indexing

The journal is abstracted and indexed in MEDLINE, PubMed the Arts and Humanities Citation Index, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts, CINAHL, Current Contents/Social & Behavioral Sciences, Excerpta Medica, Philosopher's Index, PsycINFO, Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Psychological Abstracts. According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2013 impact factor of 1.356.

Developing World Bioethics

In 2001 a companion journal was established named Developing World Bioethics and both journals can only be obtained in a combined subscription.