A single, open access journal may prevent the primary publishing problems in the life sciences.

Herein, we discuss a novel way to knit current life sciences publishing structures together under the scope of a single life science journal that would countermand many of the issues faced in current publishing paradigms. Such issues include, but are not limited to, publication fees, subscription fees, impact factor, and publishing in more "glamorous" journals for career health. We envision a process flow involving (i) a single, overall, life sciences journal, (ii) divided into sections headed by learned societies, (iii) to whom all scientific papers are submitted for peer review, and (iv) all accepted scientific literature would be published open access and without author publication fees. With such a structure, journal fees, the merit system of science, and unethical aspects of open access would be reformed for the better. Importantly, such a journal could leverage existing online platforms; that is to say, it is conceptually feasible. We conclude that wholly inclusive publishing paradigms can be possible. A single, open access, online, life sciences journal could solve the myriad problems associated with current publishing paradigms and would be feasible to implement.

Perspective: Sistas In Science - Cracking the Glass Ceiling.

In this perspective, we describe our experience as women of color scientists from diverse backgrounds and similar struggles embarking upon the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute-funded program called PRIDE (Programs to Increase Diversity among Underrepresented Minorities Engaged in Health-Related Research). Under the leadership of our mentor and friend, Betty Pace, MD, a renowned and successful African American physician-scientist, the PRIDE Program was designed to address the difficulties experienced by junior-level minority investigators in establishing independent research programs and negotiating tenure and full professor status at academic institutions. The strength of PRIDE's innovative formula was pairing us with external senior mentors and, importantly, allowing us to serve as peer mentors to each other. We believe this "Sister's Keeper" paradigm is one solution for women to overcome their limitations and extend understandings and best practices worldwide for science, medicine, and global health.

Frequency and Type of Conflicts of Interest in the Peer Review of Basic Biomedical Research Funding Applications: Self-Reporting Versus Manual Detection.

Despite the presumed frequency of conflicts of interest in scientific peer review, there is a paucity of data in the literature reporting on the frequency and type of conflicts that occur, particularly with regard to the peer review of basic science applications. To address this gap, the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) conducted a retrospective analysis of conflict of interest data from the peer review of 282 biomedical research applications via several onsite review panels. The overall conflicted-ness of these panels was significantly lower than that reported for regulatory review. In addition, the majority of identified conflicts were institutional or collaborative in nature. No direct financial conflicts were identified, although this is likely due to the relatively basic science nature of the research. It was also found that 65 % of identified conflicts were manually detected by AIBS staff searching reviewer CVs and application documents, with the remaining 35 % resulting from self-reporting. The lack of self-reporting may be in part attributed to a lack of perceived risk of the conflict. This result indicates that many potential conflicts go unreported in peer review, underscoring the importance of improving detection methods and standardizing the reporting of reviewer and applicant conflict of interest information.

Bioética global na perspectiva da bioética crítica / Bioética global desde la perspectiva de la bioética crítica / Global bioethics from the perspective of critical bioethics

Desde os anos 1990 a bioética tem se aproximado cada vez mais das discussões internacionais relacionadas à saúde e às ciências da vida, o que levou alguns autores a referir-se à "bioética global". O presente artigo analisa este conceito tal como elaborado nas perspectivas de três formulações teóricas da bioética norte-americana: a de Van Rensselaer Potter, a de Tristam Engelhardt e a de Beauchamp e Childress. Ao balancear as potencialidades e as insuficiências das abordagens destes autores, propõe a "bioética crítica" como alternativa teórica melhor capacitada para enfrentar os temas globais da bioética a partir da perspectiva histórica dos países do Sul global...

Desde la década de 1990 la bioética se ha acercado cada vez más a los debates relacionados con las ciencias de la vida y la salud internacional, lo que llevó a algunos autores a referirse a la "bioética global". En este artículo se examina este concepto desarrollado en las perspectivas teóricas de tres formulaciones de la bioética estadunidense: Van Rensselaer Potter, Tristram Engelhardt y Beauchamp y Childress. Al evaluar las fortalezas y debilidades de los enfoques de estos autores, propone la "bioética crítica" como una alternativa teórica más cualificada para hacer frente a los problemas mundiales de la bioética desde la perspectiva histórica de los países del Sur global...

Since the 1990s bioethics has increasingly approached the discussions related to international health and life sciences, which led some authors to refer to the "global bioethics". This article examines this concept as elaborated in the theoretical perspectives of three formulations of North American bioethics: Van Rensselaer Potter, the Tristram Engelhardt, and Beauchamp and Childress. By balancing the strengths and weaknesses of the approaches of these authors, it is proposed the "critical bioethics" as the best qualified alternative theoretical to address the global issues of bioethics from the historical perspective of the countries of the Global South...

A precautionary principle for dual use research in the life sciences.

Most life science research entails dual-use complexity and may be misused for harmful purposes, e.g. biological weapons. The Precautionary Principle applies to special problems characterized by complexity in the relationship between human activities and their consequences. This article examines whether the principle, so far mainly used in environmental and public health issues, is applicable and suitable to the field of dual-use life science research. Four central elements of the principle are examined: threat, uncertainty, prescription and action. Although charges against the principle exist - for example that it stifles scientific development, lacks practical applicability and is poorly defined and vague - the analysis concludes that a Precautionary Principle is applicable to the field. Certain factors such as credibility of the threat, availability of information, clear prescriptive demands on responsibility and directives on how to act, determine the suitability and success of a Precautionary Principle. Moreover, policy-makers and researchers share a responsibility for providing and seeking information about potential sources of harm. A central conclusion is that the principle is meaningful and useful if applied as a context-dependent moral principle and allowed flexibility in its practical use. The principle may then inspire awareness-raising and the establishment of practical routines which appropriately reflect the fact that life science research may be misused for harmful purposes.

Why scientific details are important when novel technologies encounter law, politics, and ethics.

This paper focuses on the issue of what to do if a couple who generates embryos chooses to lawfully, and in their (and my) view, ethnically discard those embryos. Specifically, is it appropriate to use the cells that come from "excess" embryos in medical research instead of discarding them when a couple has ceased trying to have any additional children?

Codes of conduct and biological weapons: an in-process assessment.

Codes of conduct have received a significant amount of attention in recent years as a policy option to address concerns about the relation between life science research and the deliberate spread of disease through biological weapons. While the term code of conduct has functioned as a generic umbrella phrase for an array of different types of codes, in general, such codes seek to set expectations regarding thinking and behavior for those associated with the life sciences. The purpose of this article is fourfold: (1) to survey recent developments, specifically with respect to "universal" and "scientific society" types of codes; (2) to propose criteria for assessing these initiatives; (3) to evaluate activities undertaken to date on the basis of these criteria; and (4) to propose key questions for the future. Overall, a mixed assessment is offered of the achievements of code-related activities to date. As argued, because of this overall situation, in the future careful attention should be given to what is sought out of this option and how it can be realized in practice.

In-depth learning: one school's initiatives to foster integration of ethics, values, and the human dimensions of medicine.

Today's medical student curriculum is a lock-step experience that provides a broad survey of medicine with little opportunity to pursue fully integrated, in-depth learning. To teach students about the human dimensions of health care, many schools simply have added courses that survey general areas such as ethics, values, and patient-doctor relationships. However, a superficial, broad-brush approach does not offer students sufficient opportunity to engage with these topics in substantive and meaningful ways. The authors propose that a theme-based, individualized, in-depth learning experience (in which students pursue a focused project comprehensively and in detail)--one that is an integral part of the curriculum--helps students learn to blend values and ethics with medicine in a way that cannot occur during rapid-paced topical survey courses. Furthermore, it is in the depths of a learning experience that one comes face to face with the realities of uncertainty: the realization that unanswerable questions outnumber answerable ones; the awareness of the difficulty in accumulating sufficient evidence to answer a question that is, in fact, answerable; the recognition that many patients' problems transcend available evidence and must be addressed by the art of medicine; the realization that a patient can have a condition that one cannot diagnose and that may even get better for reasons that one cannot understand. The authors describe three initiatives at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, two of which have been offered for more than 10 years, that illustrate the value of in-depth learning experiences. These in-depth experiences blend situated learning, reflective exercises, faculty mentoring, critical reading of literature, and constructive feedback in a prescribed but individualized curriculum.