Explore a Topic: Research — Human beings

The expansion of clinical trials since the end of World War II has generated discussions on the ethical issues in research including:

• institutional review boards (IRBs)
• informed consent for research
• scientific misconduct
• experimentation with “vulnerable populations”
• children
• women
• prisoners
• the mentally ill
• those living in developing countries.

Protecting human subjects has been the subject of historic documents such as the Nuremberg Code, the Declaration of Helsinki, and the Belmont Report, and guided by regulations such as the Common Rule and the International Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Human Subjects.

Selected Resources

Many organizations are involved in the process of protecting human subjects, including the following:

• Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS),
• European Commission on Good Clinical Practice
• World Health Organization's International Clinical Trials Registry Platform
• National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care
• U.S. Office for Human Research Protections.