Medical Education Online

There can be no doubt that the medical profession is committed to the established moral order. Equally it is clear that it is also invested in notions of ethical progress and development. Given the role it plays in initial, advance and specialist medical education and training, bioethics clearly promotes the ethical development of medical professionals. However, medicine also plays important socio-political role, not least by contributing to and shaping relevant public debates. Recognising that this is the case, bioethics therefore makes a broader contribution to the medical profession and society more generally by seeking to foster bioethical leadership, particularly on the part of those who go on to occupy leadership roles within a range of professional institutions, associations and organisations. It also contributes to the work of the medical profession as an authoritative institution that plays a socio-political role. This collection will explore the contribution of bioethics to this broader facet of the medical profession.

Many of the ethical concerns encompassed by bioethics arise from advances in medicine, such as genetic engineering, reproductive technology, and end-of-life care. Whilst the degree to which individual medical professionals will be required to engage with these matters as ethical issues will vary, it is also clear that at least some—and the profession as a whole—should be prepared to address them and to do so directly. If the medical profession and its leadership is going to engage with existing and emerging moral issues raised by medical practice, many of which are becoming increasingly complex and nuanced, there is a need to ensure a sustainable capacity for advanced forms of bioethical reflection and analysis that can question established norms and perspectives.

This Article Collection therefore sets out to address the contribution bioethics makes to the broader ethical capacity of the medical profession and, in so doing, to the socio-political role played by its institutions and leadership.

The articles sought for this Collection should engage with bioethics as part of the social reproduction of the medical and healthcare professions and its institutions as socio-political actors. We seek to examine and articulate the need for advanced level education and training in bioethics that meets the needs of the medical and healthcare professions and the challenges those in leadership positions face.

This Article Collection intends to cover the following topics related to bioethics:

• Reproducing the moral order of the medical profession: continuity and change in the field of bioethics
• Bioethics and the socio-political role(s) of the medical profession
• Bioethics in and beyond medical education and training
• Medical culture, medical morality, and medical ethics in the context of bioethics
• Bioethics education: basic, specialist, and advanced training and skills development.

---

All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo desk assessment and peer-review as part of our standard editorial process. Guest Advisors will not be involved in peer-reviewing manuscripts unless they are an existing member of the Editorial Board.

Please review the journal scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript.

The deadline for submitting manuscripts is 31 March 2024.

Please contact Dr. Molly Cole at [email protected] with any queries regarding this Article Collection.

Instructions for AuthorsSubmit an Article