NanoEthics

NanoEthics is a journal published by Springer Science + Buiness Media. First introduced in 2007, and titled NanoEthics: Ethics for Technologies That Converge at the Nanoscale, the journal provides an opportunity for scholars to present ideas and research relating to the societal and ethical implications of nanotechnology. It is meant to provide a forum for scholarly discussion of these issues and provide an alternative to the discussions occurring in the popular media. NanoEthics was developed to provide researchers, scholars, and students the various disciplines that make up the field of nanotechnology, as well as those involved in policy development, with scholarly research on the ethical issues arising in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology. At the time of its introduction, the editors of the journal recognized that nanoscience was the subject of tales involving both hype and fear. On the one hand, nanotechnology promised to cure cancer, clean the environment and prevent terrorism, among other beneficial applications.

On the other hand, the use of nanotechnology would allow unlimited infringement upon individual privacy, assist in the development of machinations of war, and, in the worse case scenario, lead to the complete annihilation of the planet. Nanoethics recognized a need to present ethical dilemmas raised by development and advancement of nanotechnology in a rational, learned and cohesive manner. By avoiding the hype and fear, and concentrating on the issues currently affecting the field, the field of nanoethics could push forward and develop appropriate responses to pressing issues. The editors recognize that discussion of ethical issues is intertwined with societal issues and therefore, include papers based in physical, biological and social sciences, as well as the law.

NanoEthics places its focus on the formalized scientific and philosophic examination of the ethical and societal deliberations, as well as concerns relating to policy promulgation, which are present in the research and development of the field of nanoscience. Issues range from individual to societal, and include ethical implications arising from and about health and safety, justice issues (including autonomy and distribution of both benefits and burdens), human enhancement, cultural harm, economic impact, and political stability. The journal also states that it will recognize meta-issues, including the neutrality of technology and control of scientific research.

Given the scope of NanoEthics, it is recognized that the nanosciences are an interdisciplinary field and the journal's editorial board is therefore composed of a multidiscipliniary group of scholars. As of 2009, the editor-in-chief was John Weckert of Charles Sturt University in Australia. Other editors include James Moor, Dartmouth College; Pieter E. Vermaas, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands; Davis Baird, University of South Carolina; Rafael Capurro, University of Applied Sciences, Stuttgart, Germany; and Song Sang-yong, UNESCO, Hanyang University and Fellow of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology.

NanoEthics: Ethics for Technologies That Converge at the Nanoscale publishes three volumes per year and has at press time issued seven volumes. NanoEthics has published 49 original papers and eight book reviews, and include submissions from a highly recognized group of scholors, including Fritz Allhoff, Diana Bowman, Johan Evers, Graeme A. Hodge, Patrick Lin, and Joachim Schummer. NanoEthics has an open call for papers concentrating on the ethics of nanoscience and nanotechnology, including environment and health issues, privacy, human enhancement, implants and cyborgs, human-machine interface, social consequences, the role of intellectual property, global social justice, risk assessment, the precautionary principle and cost-benefit analysis, nanotechnology in war, the role of values in design, and research ethics.

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