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International Journal of Internet Research Ethics

http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SOIS/cipr/ijire.html

Description and Scope:
The IJIRE is the first peer-reviewed online journal, dedicated  
specifically to cross-disciplinary, cross-cultural research on  
Internet Research Ethics.  All disciplinary perspectives, from those  
in the arts and humanities, to the social, behavioral, and biomedical  
sciences, are reflected in the journal.

With the emergence of Internet use as a research locale and tool  
throughout the 1990s, researchers from disparate disciplines, ranging  
from the social sciences to humanities to the sciences, have found a  
new fertile ground for research opportunities that differ greatly  
from their traditional biomedical counterparts.  As such,  
"populations," locales, and spaces that had no corresponding physical  
environment became a focal point, or site of research activity. Human  
subjects protections questions then began to arise, across  
disciplines and over time: What about privacy? How is informed  
consent obtained? What about research on minors? What are "harms" in  
an online environment? Is this really human subjects work? More  
broadly, are the ethical obligations of researchers conducting  
research online somehow different from other forms of research ethics  
practices?

As Internet Research Ethics has developed as its own field and  
discipline, additional questions have emerged: How do diverse  
methodological approaches result in distinctive ethical conflicts –  
and, possibly, distinctive ethical resolutions? How do diverse  
cultural and legal traditions shape what are perceived as ethical  
conflicts and permissible resolutions? How do researchers  
collaborating across diverse ethical and legal domains recognize and  
resolve ethical issues in ways that recognize and incorporate often  
markedly different ethical understandings?

Finally, as "the Internet" continues to transform and diffuse, new  
research ethics questions arise – e.g., in the areas of blogging,  
social network spaces, etc. Such questions are at the heart of IRE  
scholarship, and such general areas as anonymity, privacy, ownership,  
authorial ethics, legal issues, research ethics principles (justice,  
beneficence, respect for persons), and consent are appropriate areas  
for consideration.

The IJIRE will publish articles of both theoretical and practical  
nature to scholars from all disciplines who are pursuing—or reviewing— 
IRE work.  Case studies of online research, theoretical analyses, and  
practitioner-oriented scholarship that promote understanding of IRE  
at ethics and institutional review boards, for instance, are  
encouraged. Methodological differences are embraced.