SciDev.Net

This up-to-date and comprehensive website from the American Journal of Bioethics covers a wide range of issues in bioethics, including articles on research ethics. The site is very useful for monitoring current controversies and developments but other links provide more useful resources specifically related to research in developing countries (such as the list of educational resources).

This website offers information on a programme at the Harvard School of Public Health. It includes material on the principles of research ethics, informed consent, responsibilities to the study community, mechanisms of approval and the role of funders. Also available are a selection of case studies, an email discussion group, and links to a useful selection of readings on research ethics.

This site provides free access to the full text of the journal of the Indian Forum for Medical Ethics Society. Over 30 issues of the journal are available on the website, from 1993 onwards. In addition to orginal articles, the journal contains discussion pieces, letters, book reviews, case studies, reviews and meeting reports, with special reference to developing countries. As well as articles discussing ethical concerns in medical research, the journal also contains articles on clinical practice and other issues in medical ethics. Topics of particular relevance include discussions of national and international research ethics guidelines, informed consent and the ethical review of research.

This useful reference site — run by Georgetown University, Washington DC — provides links to educational resources in bioethics and to other bioethics organisations and sites. It also contains an archive of the material published by the US National Bioethics Advisory Commision (which has now expired), including a report on clinical research in developing countries.