Global guidelines and documents

• World Health Organisation Operational Guidelines for Ethics Committees that Review Biomedical Research (2000)
• CIOMS International Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Human Subjects ~ Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS), recently up-dated guideline of particular significance to medical research, clinical trials and good clinical practice.
• UNESCO ~ globally-orientated reports on ethics, including the International Declaration on Human Genetic Data, the World Commssion on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST) and much more...

Government, NHS, and other key resources
• Central Office for Research Ethics Committees (COREC) ~ co-ordinates the development of operational systems for Local and Multi-Centre Research Ethics Committees (LRECs and MRECs), on behalf of the National Health Service in England and several other related tasks. Includes useful round-up of links to sites relevant to its responsibilities.
• UK Research Ethics Committees ~ all relevant current regulations and references concerning policy for, and operation of, RECs will be available shortly on this site, currently under construction.
• Working Group on Ethical Review of Student Research in the NHS ~ COREC body providing advice on how ethical review of student research might best be undertaken, within remit of the wider Research Governance Framework. Recently published analysis and draft proposal to establish Student Project Ethics Committees (SPECS).
• Ethics Review in Social Care Research: Option Appraisal and Guidelines ~ proposed procedures and guidelines for ethics review of social care research, by Jan Pahl, University of Kent, July 2004.
• Ethics Review of Social Care Research: Options Appraisal Guidelines - consulation ~ Department of Health public consultation from September 2004 to 31 December 2004 on proposed ethics review of social care - see document above.
• ‘Doing the Right Thing. Outlining the Department for Work and Pensions approach to ethical and legal issues in social research ’ ~ guidance for DWP staff when commissioning research (consultation draft - published August 2003).
• Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill ~ UK legislation relating to interception of communications, intrusive investigative techniques and access to encrypted data.
• Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS) ~ advice to prospective depositors regarding copyright, data protection, informed consent, and confidentiality, from the UK Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS).

  Research funding agencies

• Economic and Social Research Council: Research Ethics and Confidentiality ~ main funding agency for the social sciences in the UK, and sponsor of the Research Ethics Framework project.
• Medical Research Council ~ principal UK funder of medical research. Includes patient information in medical research, together with other MRC ethics guidelines.

  Academic centres for ethics research

• Centre for the Study of Global Ethics ~ hosts the PropEur project, a EU-funded project to compare and analyse ethical and legal guidelines applicable to new biotechnologies and related areas, in addition to a number of other projects.
• ESRC Research Methods Programme ~ the Programme forms part of the UK ESRC's strategy to improve the standards of research methods across the UK social science community. Useful site related to research ethics, based at the Centre for Survey Research, University of Manchester.
• University of Southampton 'informed consent and the research process' project ~ part of the ESRC Research Methods programme, with four papers plus an annotated bibliography, with more resources to be added in the months ahead. The project will identify and disseminate best practice in relation to informed consent for researchers working in the areas of childhood, youth, ageing and health.

  Professional Associations, Learned Societies and Other Bodies

• Association of Social Anthropologists-Ethical guidelines ~ interesting discussion on ethics from the ASA's Chair, plus Position Paper, ASA guidelines and other material.
• Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research (2004) ~ recently released revision of guidelines from BERA (British Educational Research Association).
• British Sociological Association: Statement of Ethical Practice ~ ethics codes produced by the BSA, March 2002.
• British Psychological Society: Code of Conduct ~ Code of Conduct, Ethical Principles & Guidelines, published 2000.
• Nuffield Council on Bioethics ~ leading UK body examining bioethics across a range of contemporary issues. Recent reports include pharmacogenetics, human tissue use, genetic testing, and other areas.
• Royal College of Nursing ~ research ethics guidance for nurses involved in research or any investigative project involving human subjects.
• Social Research Association (SRA) Code of Ethics ~ leading UK social research organisation (in word format).
• UK Market Research Society: Code of Conduct

  Research ethics committees

• Association of Research Ethics Committees ~ 'independent, self-governing body of Research Ethics Committees, local and multi-centre, including their members and administrators', providing training and advice and 'the opportunity to speak with one voice about the many difficult issues they face'. Dec 2003 newsletter debates idea of professionalising RECs.

• RESPECT ~ project funded by European Commission’s Information Society Technologies (IST) Programme, to draw up professional and ethical guidelines for the conduct of socio-economic research. The guidelines are intended to form the basis of a voluntary code of practice covering the conduct of socio-economic research in Europe, and are based on a synthesis of the contents of existing codes, together with current EU legal requirements - NOTE: guidelines now out for consultation. Site also includes useful links to other resources.
• CODEX ~ key Swedish project to codify ethics guidelines across a range of disciplines and research areas - currently in Swedish, but now funded to provide English translation.
• Norwegian National Committees for Research Ethics in Norway
• Norwegian National Committee for Research Ethics in the Social Sciences and the Humanities (NESH) and NESH Guidelines for Research Ethics

Canada
• The Interagency Advisory Panel on Research Ethics (PRE) ~ body of external experts established in November 2001 by Canada's three Federal Granting Agencies (the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council), to support the development and evolution of their joint research ethics policy: the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS).
• SSHWC Report to PRE - Giving Voice to the Spectrum", June 2004 ~ The Interagency Advisory Panel on Research Ethics (PRE) and its Social Sciences and Humanities Research Ethics Special Working Committee (SSHWC) - results of the consultation of the social sciences and humanities research community on research ethics issues.

  Australia

• National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Research Involving Humans ~ issued in 1999 by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in accordance with the NHMRC Act, 1992 (Cth), and endorsed by a wide range of agencies and professional academies.

  USA

• Protecting Participants and Facilitating Social and Behavioral Sciences Research ~ published by the National Research Council of the National Academies of Science, examining 'three key issues related to human participation in social, behavioral, and economic sciences research: (1) obtaining informed, voluntary consent from prospective participants: (2) guaranteeing the confidentiality of information collected from participants [...] and (3) using appropriate review procedures for minimal-risk research.
• Ethical and legal aspects of human subjects research on the Internet ~ 1999 workshop report from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.