Bioethics

Research Guides on related topics include Abortion, Animal Rights, and Stem Cell Research.

Subject Headings

Representative subject headings for locating books in the Boston University online catalog include the following:

Abortion
Bioethics
Cloning -- Moral And Ethical Aspects
Eugenics
Euthanasia
Fetus Research
Genetic Engineering -- Moral And Ethical Aspects
Genetic Engineering -- Religious Aspects
Genetic Engineering -- Social Aspects
Human Cloning
Human experimentation and medicine
Human experimentation in medicine
Medical Ethics
Medicine Research -- Moral And Ethical Aspects
Stem Cells Research -- Moral and Ethical Aspects
Transplantation

Reference Works

Code of Medical Ethics: Current Opinions with Annotations. 2001: Annotated current opinions: including the Principles of Medical Ethics, Fundamentals of the Patient-Physician Relationship and 150+ ethical opinions of the AMA's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs. Law Annex: R725 .A54, 2006-2007.
CQ Researcher 1991+: Reports offer in-depth, non-biased coverage of political and social issues, with summary coverage of all sides of the issues along with extremely useful bibliographies. Recent report topics include Cloning Controversy, Embryo Research, and Organ Transplants. Earlier years are available in print and microfilm at Mugar Library as Editorial Research Reports: H35 .F24, 1929+
Dictionary of Medical Ethics. 1981: Introductory essays on medical science and medical ethics and shorter entries defining terms in medical ethics from "Abortion" to " World Medical Association." Mugar stacks and Theo Reference: R724 .D53 1981
Encyclopedia of Abortion in the United States. 2002: Includes entries on the political, legal, social, religious, and medical issues concerning abortion; summaries of U.S. Supreme Court cases, state abortion laws, and more. Topics include embryo cloning and embryonic and fetal stem cell research. Mugar Reference: HQ 767.5 .U5 P35 2002
Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics. 4 vols. 1998: Contains 281 articles on applied ethics, including medical ethics and scientific ethics. Theo Reference and Law Reference: BJ63 .E44 1998
Encyclopedia of Bioethics. 3rd ed. 5 vols. 2004: Includes entries on the moral and ethical issues surrounding such topics as biotechnology, cloning, fetal tissue, genetic engineering, and the Human Genome Project. Sci/Eng Reference: QH332 .E52 2004
Encyclopedia of Ethical, Legal, and Policy Issues in Biotechnology. 2 vols. 2000: Compendium of regulatory, policy and ethical issues in biotechnology. Contains 112 articles on such topics as cloning, eugenics, and human subjects research. Law Reference: TP248.16 .M87 2000

Encyclopedia of Ethics. 3 vols. 2001: Contains 500+ articles on topics in ethics and ethical theory, perennial moral problems, and political, social, religious, and legal theory. Mugar Reference: BJ63 .E45 2001
Encyclopedia of Genetics. 4 vols. 2002: "Comprehensive four-volume set covering the wide variety of disciplines that use genetic principles as a part of their scientific foundation." The 1,700 entries include biotechnology, embryonic stem cells, ethics and genetics, gene therapy, and genetic counseling. Sci/Eng Reference: QH427 .E532 2000
Encyclopedia of Life Sciences. 20 vols. 20o2: Covering all aspects of the life sciences, the 3,000 articles include such topics as cloning, eugenics, and stem cell research. Sci/Eng Reference: QH302.5 .E525 2002
Encyclopedia of Science and Religion. 2 vols. 2003: Includes entries on topics such as abortion, biotechnology, cloning, DNA, eugenics, genetic engineering, medical ethics, and stem cells. Mugar Reference: BL240.3 .E43 2003
The Eugenics Movement: An Encyclopedia. 2005: Comprehensive in scope, the 250 entries cover key figures, organizations, publications, and fields in eugenics, as well as related issues such as cloning. Includes an introduction to eugenics and the eugenics movement, a chronology, and a bibliography. Mugar HQ751 E64 2005

Genetic Engineering: A Reference Handbook. 1999: Presents background information for understanding the topic of genetic engineering, a chronology of events, biographical essays on key individuals, data and documents important to the genetic engineering debate, a glossary, and lists of resources. Sci/Eng Reference: TP248.6 .L4 1999
A Handbook of Bioethics Terms. 2009: Arranged alphabetically from "abortifacient" to "zygote intrafallopian transfer," this work is a guide to 400+ terms, in bioethics. Mugar Refererence: R725.5 T83 2009
International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences. 26 vols. 2001: Use the list of articles in the front of volume 1 to locate articles on such topics as bioethics, biotechnology, ethical issues in the "new" genetics, and the Human Genome Project. Mugar Reference: H41 .I58 2001. Available (abstracts only) through ScienceDirect
Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying. 2 vols. 2003: International and multidisciplinary in scope, the 320+ articles encompass such topics as bioethics, black stork, euthanasia, and physician-assisted suicide. Mugar Reference: HQ1073 .M33 2003
Nature Encyclopedia of the Human Genome. 5 vols. 2003: The 1,000+ articles examine the human genome from the perspectives of history, philosophy, ethics, law, medicine, public health, and industry. Areas covered include structural genomics; functional genomics; chromosome structure and function; evolution and comparative genomics; genome mapping and sequencing; genes and disease; behavioral and psychiatric genetics; mathematical and population genetics; proteomics; bioinformatics; ethical, legal and social issues; and biographies of key figures. Sci/Eng Reference: QH447 .N37 2003
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 1998: Each of over 2,000 entries (varying in length from 500 to 15,000 words) begins with a short overview and concludes with references for further reading. Bibliographies are annotated. Also available on CDROM on Mugar computer #17. Mugar Reference and Theo Reference: B51 .R68 1998

Indexes

Ageline 1978+: Provides citations and abstracts for books and articles. Covers both scholarly and popular literature. Particularly useful for bioethics topics having to do with eldercare and end of life issues. Subject headings include euthanasia, physician assisted suicide, living wills, and do not resuscitate orders. Use the thesaurus to find other relevant subject terms.
AGRICOLA 1966+: Created by the National Agricultural Library of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, AGRICOLA provides access to the agricultural literature of the world. It contains over 3.3 million bibliographic records of journal articles, monographs, theses, patents, software, audiovisual materials and technical reports from 1979 to the present. 1400 journals are indexed by the database. Search AGRICOLA for articles on genetically engineered plants and crops.
Applied Science & Technology Index 1983+: Indexes and abstracts journals in applied sciences and technology. Full-text coverage goes back to 1997. Earlier years are available in Applied Science & Business Periodicals Retrospective (1913 - 1983)
ATLA Religion Database 1949+: Includes some full text. Excellent coverage of the religious aspects of bioethics. Covers journal articles, books and book chapters, dissertations, and conference proceedings. Use the thesaurus.
Bibliography of Bioethics 1975+: Indexes and abstracts periodical articles, books, documents and AV sources in bioethics. To use this classified subject index, consult the contents for a listing of subjects. Sci/Eng Reference: Z6675 .E8 B53
Biological and Agricultural Index 1983 +: Indexes and abstracts English-language periodicals in biology, agriculture, and related fields, including biotechnology.
Biosis 1989+: Citations and abstracts covering journal articles in the biological sciences. Use the thesaurus term "philosophy and ethics" in combination with your topic to limit results to the ethical aspects of a concept. This index is also available in print, as Biological Abstracts: Sci/Eng Reference QH 301 F26, 1927- 2000.

Christian Periodical Index. 1976 - . (BU-px).: "Provides indexing for evangelical Christian journals providing both article and review indexing. Although religion, theology, biblical studies and pastoral theology are prominent subjects in the journals indexed, it also tries to provide journals in the disciplines of science, literature, medicine, music, philosophy, history, sociology and education which put forth a Christian worldview." Consult this index for the evangelical Christian perspective on bioethical issues.

CINAHL 1981 +: CINAHL, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, covers more than 500 English language journals as well as books.
Compendex (Engineering Village) 1970+: A comprehensive bibliographic database of engineering research containing over seven million references and abstracts taken from over 5,000 engineering journals, conferences and technical reports. Consult this database for articles on bioethics and genetic engineering and/or biomedical engineering.
ETHXWeb: Bibliographic database of 180,000+ citations to literature in bioethics and professional ethics; includes journal articles, analytics, bills, laws, court decisions, reports, and news articles relating to bioethics and professional ethics. Maintained by the National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature, Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University.
FRANCIS (International social sciences & humanities) 1984+: Multilingual, multidisciplinary index to literature in economics, the humanities, and the social sciences.
General Science Full Text 1984+: Citations and abstracts of journal articles. Includes partial full-text from 1995+.
GenETHX Database: Includes 22,000+ citations to books, journal articles, analytics, bills, laws, court decisions, reports, news articles and audiovisuals. Maintained by the National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature, Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University.

LexisNexis Academic: A full-text database that includes newspapers, wire services, transcripts of television and radio broadcasts, medical and health journals, trade journals, accounting literature, company financial reports, law reviews, statutory and case law, and public opinion polls. The database is international in scope, and includes newspapers in English, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, and German. Dates of coverage vary depending upon the publication.

Medline (PubMed). 1966 - . (BU-px).: Indexes and abstracts medical literature.

PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service) 1972+: Indexing and abstracts to public policy literature in books, journal articles and government documents. It includes materials published in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
Philosopher's Index: Indexes and abstracts books, contributions to anthologies and articles from approximately 300 journals annually, from 1940 to date for English-language sources and from 1967 to date for non-English sources.
Readers' Guide Full Text 1983+: Indexing and abstracts for more than 240 of the most popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States and Canada, plus the full text of more than 120 of those periodicals. In addition to news and current events, it covers business, politics, sports and many other subjects. Full text coverage begins in 1994. For retrospective searching (1890-1982) use Readers Guide Retrospective, which indexes 375+ periodicals.
Science Direct 1995/96+: A Web-based information source for scientific, technical, and medical research offering access to more than 1,100 full text electronic journals across 16 fields of science, including the social sciences.
Social Sciences Full Text. 1983 - .: Indexes and abstracts core journals in such fields as anthropology, criminal justice and criminology, gender studies, geography, gerontology, minority studies, social work, sociology, and urban studies. Includes full text of articles from 215+ journals as far back as 1995. For retrospective searching (1907-1984) use Humanities and Social Sciences Retrospective, which indexes nearly 1,200 periodicals as early as 1907.
Sociological Abstracts 1952+: Indexing and abstracts to "international literature in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences." Includes coverage of articles, books, conference proceedings and dissertations.
Web of Science 1973+: Web of Science is the web interface to the citation databases from the Institute of Scientific Information. The databases include: Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index.

Websites

Bioethics.Net: Online access to the text of The American Journal of Bioethics as well as news and analysis from hundreds of sources.
Bioethics Resources on the Web: Maintained by the National Institutes of Health, "Bioethics Resources on the Web is designed to facilitate research, scholarly activities, and training. The web site provides information about bioethics initiatives at NIH Institutes and Centers, OPRR, and other government offices and programs, publications, reports, guidelines, and regulations related to bioethics. The web site contains a new bibliography of 4,650 items as well as information on educational and funding opportunities. There is a wealth of information and excellent sources on topics as diverse as human subject and animal research, IRBs, genetics and medical ethics, international research, and teaching material, such as case studies and course curricula. The web site also links to related sites, such as university ethics programs, medical and biotech sites, the Federal Register, and ethics journals."
BioethicsWeb: "BioethicsWeb is a gateway to evaluated, quality Internet resources relating to biomedical ethics, including ethical, social, legal and public policy questions arising from advances in medicine and biology, issues relating to the conduct of biomedical research and approaches to bioethics."
BioResearch: "Offers free access to a searchable catalogue of quality reviewed Internet resources covering the biological and biomedical sciences; including genetics, biotechnology, virology, biochemistry and molecular biology."
BiologyBrowser: "BiologyBrowser, produced by BIOSIS, is a free web site offering resources for the life sciences information community."
Center for Bioethics, University of Minnesota: The mission of the Center is to advance and disseminate knowledge concerning ethical issues in health care and the life sciences. Resources include publications, curricula, research projects, and additional resources and links.
Eugenics Archive: Image Archive on the American Eugenics Movement: The Archive includes more than 2,200 images of documents, records, books, photographs, correspondence and objects from the Eugenics Movement of the early 20th century. Maintained by the Dolan DNA Learning Center of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Genome News Network: BIOETHICS Central: "Bioethics Central is a guide to the primary materialslandmark documents, legislation, and religious viewsthat have shaped the field of bioethics and to the academic centers, organizations, and government agencies that, along with the public, will do so in the future."
Guide to the Genetics Collections at the APS: Guide to the books and manuscripts on the history of genetics in the American Philosophical Society Library. Includes the records of the American Eugenics Society and the Eugenics Record Office in Cold Spring Harbor.
Joint Centre for Bioethics, University of Toronto: "The JCB studies important ethical, health-related topics through research and clinical activities."
National Human Genome Research Institute: "The National Human Genome Research Institute led the Human Genome Project for the National Institutes of Health, which culminated in the completion of the full human genome sequence in April 2003. Now, NHGRI moves forward into the genomic era with research aimed at improving human health and fighting disease."
National Information Resource on Ethics & Human Genetics: "The National Information Resource on Ethics & Human Genetics, funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, supports information services - for example, bibliographic databases searchable via the Internet, the full text of online annotated bibliographies, and print publications - on topics related to ethics and human genetics."
National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature: "The National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature (NRCBL), is a specialized collection of books, journals, newspaper articles, legal materials, regulations, codes, government publications, and other relevant documents concerned with issues in biomedical and professional ethics. The library holdings represent the world's largest collection related to ethical issues in medicine and biomedical research."

The President's Council on Bioethics: Created in November 2001 by Executive Order to "advise the President on bioethical issues that may emerge as a consequence of advances in biomedical science and technology. In support of its mission, the Council may study ethical issues connected with specific technological activities, such as embryo and stem cell research, assisted reproduction, cloning, uses of knowledge and techniques derived from human genetics or the neurosciences, and end of life issues." For a critique of the Council's reports, Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness, and Monitoring Stem Cell Research by a former and a current member, see Reason as Our Guide, published in PLosBiology, an open-access journal.