Necessary but not sufficient – examining the Belmont principles’ application in social and behavioral research ethics from a Confucian perspective
| Date | 28 November 2024 |
| Pages | 1-13 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JICES-01-2024-0011 |
| Published date | 28 November 2024 |
| Author | Huichuan Xia,Jinya Liu |
Necessary but not sufficient –
examining the Belmont principles’
application in social and behavioral
research ethics from a
Confucian perspective
Huichuan Xia and Jinya Liu
Department ofInformation Management, PekingUniversity, Beijing,China
Abstract
Purpose –Much prior literature has discussed bioethics from a Confucian perspective in biomedical
research, but little has applied Confucianism in examining ethics in social and behavioral researchinvolving
human subjects.This paper aims to reexamine the Belmont principles in social and behavioralresearch from a
Confucian perspective to discuss theirapplicability and limitations and propose implications for revising or
extendingthem potentially in the future.
Design/methodology/approach –A comparison is conducted onbioethics and social and behavioral research
ethics. Afterward, a critical analysis is conducted on the Belmont principles of respect for persons, beneficence
and justice from a Confucian perspectiveregar dingtheir application in social and behavioral research.
Findings –From a Confucian perspective,the Belmont principles are necessary but may not be sufficient to
cover the width and depth of ethical issues in social and behavioral research,such as those in crowd work-
based research. This paperproposes that ethical guidelines for social and behavioral researchmay need to be
updated fromthe Belmont principles adopting or incorporating certain Confucianethics.
Originality/value –Social and behavioral research ethicshave been relatively marginal compared to the
bioethics deliberation in the existing literature. Unlike Beauchamp and Childress’s continued efforts in
refining ethical guidelines forbiomedical research specifically, little similarwork has been done in this area
since the Belmont report’s publication in 1979. This paper shedslight on building more refined and specific
ethical guidelines to navigate the ever-growing numbers and diversities of nonmedical research topics,
methodologiesand contexts.
Keywords Confucianism, Research ethics, Social and behavioral research, Belmont principles
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The Belmont principles of respect for persons, beneficence and justice have been the
benchmark for conducting human subjects research in the Western world since its
publication in 1979. However, there are some divergences regarding the influence of
Belmont principles on medical and nonmedical research with human subjects. For the
former, derivative and more refined ethical guidelines have emerged from the Belmont
report. Most notably,Beauchamp and Childress published the Principles of Bioethicsin 1979
The authors acknowledge the support of the Beijing Municipal Social Science Foundation under
Grant [No. 22ZXC008].
Journal of
Information,
Communication
and Ethics in
Society
1
Received29Ma y 2024
Revised 9 July 2024
3 August2024
7 September 2024
Accepted21September2024
Journalof Information,
Communicationand Ethics in
Society
Vol.23 No. 1, 2025
pp. 1-13
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1477-996X
DOI 10.1108/JICES-01-2024-0011
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/1477-996X.htm
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