Agent regret and the moral responsibility for the misuse of research results
An increasing number of research fields must expect that their projects will be classified as susceptible to misuse or otherwise security relevant, even if the reasons or criteria for this classification have not yet been uniformly developed. Research institutions will commonly distribute the obliga...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2025-04-01
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| Series: | Research Ethics Review |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/17470161241272760 |
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| _version_ | 1850155689233612800 |
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| author | Jan-Hendrik Heinrichs Serap Ergin Aslan |
| author_facet | Jan-Hendrik Heinrichs Serap Ergin Aslan |
| author_sort | Jan-Hendrik Heinrichs |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | An increasing number of research fields must expect that their projects will be classified as susceptible to misuse or otherwise security relevant, even if the reasons or criteria for this classification have not yet been uniformly developed. Research institutions will commonly distribute the obligation to predict and prevent misuse across multiple members and structures including ethics committees. However, cases of misuse occur even in spite of these precautions, raising the question of the type and distribution of responsibility for the resulting harm. This question becomes even more pressing if research ethics committees in their decisions ask researchers to provide a misuse- specific risk assessment or risk mitigation plan and thereby shift back a part of their responsibility on the researchers. While this kind of requirement may be considered as unsatisfactory by researchers, members of research ethics committees or boards and third-party funders, will argue that it fulfils two important functions. On the one hand, it makes use of the best available source for misuse risk-assessment available to most committees; on the other hand, it guarantees that the researchers at least try to take responsibility. If researchers, committee members and others involved discharge their obligation to predict and mitigate misuse risks with due diligence, any backward-looking responsibility they retain is to show agent regret for the results of their work having been misused. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-7c9eefbb60264147b8dbe685de0ac8f8 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1747-0161 2047-6094 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Research Ethics Review |
| spelling | doaj-art-7c9eefbb60264147b8dbe685de0ac8f82025-08-20T02:24:50ZengSAGE PublishingResearch Ethics Review1747-01612047-60942025-04-012110.1177/17470161241272760Agent regret and the moral responsibility for the misuse of research resultsJan-Hendrik HeinrichsSerap Ergin AslanAn increasing number of research fields must expect that their projects will be classified as susceptible to misuse or otherwise security relevant, even if the reasons or criteria for this classification have not yet been uniformly developed. Research institutions will commonly distribute the obligation to predict and prevent misuse across multiple members and structures including ethics committees. However, cases of misuse occur even in spite of these precautions, raising the question of the type and distribution of responsibility for the resulting harm. This question becomes even more pressing if research ethics committees in their decisions ask researchers to provide a misuse- specific risk assessment or risk mitigation plan and thereby shift back a part of their responsibility on the researchers. While this kind of requirement may be considered as unsatisfactory by researchers, members of research ethics committees or boards and third-party funders, will argue that it fulfils two important functions. On the one hand, it makes use of the best available source for misuse risk-assessment available to most committees; on the other hand, it guarantees that the researchers at least try to take responsibility. If researchers, committee members and others involved discharge their obligation to predict and mitigate misuse risks with due diligence, any backward-looking responsibility they retain is to show agent regret for the results of their work having been misused.https://doi.org/10.1177/17470161241272760 |
| spellingShingle | Jan-Hendrik Heinrichs Serap Ergin Aslan Agent regret and the moral responsibility for the misuse of research results Research Ethics Review |
| title | Agent regret and the moral responsibility for the misuse of research results |
| title_full | Agent regret and the moral responsibility for the misuse of research results |
| title_fullStr | Agent regret and the moral responsibility for the misuse of research results |
| title_full_unstemmed | Agent regret and the moral responsibility for the misuse of research results |
| title_short | Agent regret and the moral responsibility for the misuse of research results |
| title_sort | agent regret and the moral responsibility for the misuse of research results |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/17470161241272760 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT janhendrikheinrichs agentregretandthemoralresponsibilityforthemisuseofresearchresults AT seraperginaslan agentregretandthemoralresponsibilityforthemisuseofresearchresults |