Global bioethics -- myth or reality?

ABSTRACT:

Background

There has been debate on whether a global or unified field of bioethics exists. If bioethics is a unified global field, or at the very least a closely shared way of thinking, then we should expect bioethicists to behave the same way in their academic activities anywhere in the world. This paper investigates whether there is a 'global bioethics' in the sense of a unified academic community.

Methods

To address this question, we study the web-linking patterns of bioethics institutions, the citation patterns of bioethics papers and the buying patterns of bioethics books.

Results

All three analyses indicate that there are geographical and institutional differences in the academic behavior of bioethicists and bioethics institutions.

Conclusion

These explor

SUBMITTER: Holm S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1592295 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature