Abstract
With growing opportunities for medical doctors to work either in academia and industry, research ethics education for health sciences research, meaning research which includes humans and animals and/or their tissues and cells with the goal to understand underlying mechanisms of disease occurrence and disease treatment, is of paramount importance, especially in regions, such as Serbia, where comprehensive research ethics curricula for physician researchers are lacking. This article addresses the spectrum of research ethics topics that were identified through analysis of the existing research ethics curricula in medical schools, international organizations, Serbian legislative codes and the PubMed database applying the key search terms: ethics, research, biomedical, education, curriculum, program, course and their combinations. Selected topics were classified in eight syllabi based on their similarity: #1 Responsible conduct of research, #2 Justice in human subjects research, #3 Research on human subjects, #4 Vulnerable population groups, #5 Conflict of interest, #6 Research on animals, #7 Research on genes, cells and embryos, and #8 Organization of research ethics. Justifications for each syllabus are discussed based on empirical evidence and local context. Higher education authorities could use this framework to strengthen, adjust or refine research ethics education for physician researchers in Serbia.
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Funding
This work was supported by the START Danube Region Project Fund (Grant No. 16_PA07-C1). Tatjana Gazibara and Darija Kisic-Tepavcevic receive grant from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia (Grant No. 175087) for other research projects.
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All authors contributed to study conception and design. Formal data analysis was performed by TG, JD, VJS and DKT. Draft preparation: TG, JD, DD and VJS. Review and editing: DKT. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript ahead of submission and agree to be held accountable for all aspects of this work.
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Gazibara, T., Dotlic, J., Donev, D. et al. Towards a Framework for Research Ethics Education for Physicians in Serbia. Sci Eng Ethics 26, 1249–1266 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-019-00136-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-019-00136-w