Introduction

Abstract

Abstract Ethical questions concerning the use of humans in research arise in numerous fields, including biomedical research, behavioral science, political science, public policy, and sociology. Although scholars working in these areas are ultimately addressing the same question—what are the conditions for ethical research with human beings?—there is very limited engagement across disciplines. The Oxford Handbook of Research Ethics aims to foster greater appreciation for the challenging ethical questions that arise in different disciplines and to improve scholarship in research ethics by encouraging cross-disciplinary discussion of critical issues. This introductory chapter provides an overview of the current scholarly landscape in research ethics as well as a brief history of its emergence. This chapter begins with a discussion of bioethicists’ focus on the ethics of biomedical and behavioral research and the historical development of ethical frameworks and regulatory structures that are not well suited to social scientific research. It then discusses the development of research ethics professional codes and scholarship in anthropology, sociology, political science, and development economics. The chapter closes with a comprehensive overview of the content of the volume.