CFP: Special issue on dual use, misuse, and research ethics

Call For Papers: Special issue on dual use, misuse, and research ethics; in ‘Research Ethics’

The possibility of dual use and misuse of research results ("dual use research of concern (DURC)") poses several ethical and legal challenges for researchers, research institutions and research funding institutions. On the one hand, it raises an ethical dilemma between ensuring freedom of research and minimizing the possibility of misuse. On the other hand, the possibility of misuse is often the flip side of socially beneficial research results. Therefore, dual use and misuse can only be completely avoided at the cost of valuable contributions to addressing social challenges.

The concepts of dual use, security-relevant research and misuse of research results raise both, conceptual and ethical issues, which were explored at the Summer School on "Dual Use and Misuse of Research Results" at Forschungzentrum Jülich, Germany. In addition, several national and international policy processes target the ethical as well as legal structure of handling security relevant research. This special issue aims to further explore the conceptual, ethical and policy challenges of dual use and misuse of research results.

Exemplary topics are:

·       The concept of dual use

·       The difference between dual use and misuse

·       Permissibility of Research

·       Dual use governance and regulations

·       Dual use governance and research ethics committees

·       Dual use governance and state influence

·       Dissemination of Dual use research / items

·       …

We invite scholars to submit original articles of max 6000 words for the upcoming special issue Dual use, misuse, and research ethics of SAGE's journal “Research Ethics”. The issue will be published in early 2024. To submit your article, please use the submission portal of Research Ethics (https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/rea). The deadline for submissions to be considered for this special issue is 31st December 2023.