report
7.1 Literature list

Some journals and bibliographies and databases on Ethics and ELSA literature related to nanotechnology

 

Update 16-03-2011

 

Some journals that regularly publish articles on nanoethics and ELSA:

 

NanoEthics, published by Springer from 2007: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1871-4757/

Science and Engineering Ethics, Springer: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1353-3452/

Journal of Nanoparticle Research, Springer: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1388-0764/

Nature publications in particular EMBO Reports, Nature Nanotechnology and Nature Materials: www.nature.com

Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, Oxford Journals: http://jmp.oxfordjournals.org/

Technological Forecasting & Social Change, Elsevier: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00401625

Technology in Society, Elsevier: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0160791X

Futures, Elsevier: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00163287

Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, Routledge, Taylor & Francis: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/379226366-17342624/title~content=t713447357~db=all

Science as Culture, Routledge, Taylor & Francis: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/379226366-17342624/title~content=t713444970~db=all

 

Bibliographies and databases:

 

NanoEthicsBank

This database (mySQL) had 1205 entries by 19 March 2009. Weekly updates compiled a team of librarians. It has continued to be updated at least until March 2011.

The NanoEthicsBank is a database conceived as a resource for researchers, scholars, students, and the general public who are interested in the social and ethical implications of nanotechnology. Items in the database include normative documents, such as guidelines for safety in the workplace, and descriptive materials, such as analysis of the U.S. government’s capacity for oversight and studies of the media coverage of nanotechnology. Records contained in the database include all relevant citation information, an abstract, and links to material freely available on the World Wide Web. The full text of publicly available documents, such as government reports, is included, and more full text will become available as authors and publishers grant copyright permission.

The NEB contains material from across many disciplines and subject areas. This interdisciplinary nature means that researchers using the database may not share a common language or set of search terms. In an effort to bridge this divide, we are developing a “folksonomy” tagging system, or a system where frequent users of the database can add their own search terms to describe a resource, much in the way social tagging works on the open web.

The NanoEthicsBank is part of the NanoConnection to Society project that will be an important resource on the interchange of public discourse, regulation, and economics in the development nanotechnology. It will support the study of how society shapes the development of technology, and how technology shapes society. The NanoConnection to Society database is part of the Center for Nanotechnology and Society, funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Nanotechnology Initiative.

 

SEI Societal and Ethical Issues in Nanotechnology

This database is updated at least until 2010.

This database holds documents and readings divided into five thematic issues: 1) Nano-SEI Discussions, 2) Reports and Surveys, 3) Science, Technology, & SEI, 4) Alternative visions, 5) What is Nano? The database is hosted by the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (USA) and provides no information about updates.

The National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN) is a collective of university-based open facilities that support the pursuit of research and development in all areas that can benefit from the rapid developments of the science, engineering and technology of the nanoscale. Each of the 14 NNIN sites has an SEI Coordinator.  Four institutions - the University of Washington, Cornell University, Georgia Tech University, and Stanford University - focus specifically on SEI-related research.

The NNIN also has an overall SEI Coordinator - Katherine A. McComas, an associate professor in the Department of Communication at Cornell University.

 

NanoForum.org List of Publications

This database with 524 entries (assessed 16 March 2011) is regularly updated.

The database contains references and link tor articles, web pages, reports etc., all of which are listed in chronological order.

 

Nano Archive

The Nano Archive is an electronic archive of nanoscience publications. It has a simple interface for the deposit of full-text papers and incorporates facilities for retrieval by browsing or searching. Subject areas relevant to ethics and ELSA literature include: Environment, health and safety aspects of nanotechnology (224 papers as of March 2011); Policy developments with respect to nanotechnology (46 papers); Societal and ethical aspects of nanotechnology (113 papers); Economic impacts of nanotechnology (9 papers).

 

Nanotrust

This database has been updated at least until 2010, with 1200 entries.

Designed to continually survey, analyze, and summarize the state of knowledge on the potential health and environmental risks of nanotechnology, the Austrian Nanotrust project includes an annotated bibliographic database. The interface allows you to search the database using search words (titles, authors, keywords) or by browsing a list of keywords (a list of 75 keywords, available only in German).

 

Nano Ethics Network

This site has been last updated in 2008.

The Nano Ethics Network was established in March 2006. The aim was to contribute to the development of nanoethics and further the international collaboration and dialogue between the various disciplines researching into nanotechnology. The network has published regular newsletters from 2006 to 2008 in which recent and forthcoming publications of members of the network were announced.

 

Bibliography of Studies on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

Compiled by Joachim Schummer, last updated 13 November 2004 (assessed March 2011). The bibliography includes scholarly publications in philosophy, ethics, sociology, and history of nanoscience and nanotechnology (^nanoSTS) as well as selected reports.

 

Literature on social & ethical interactions with nano

This list of 280 papers, reports and book chapters has been published in 2007 and contains no updates. This list appears to have been removed from the site.

The list was discussed in an article by Kamilla Kjølberg and Fern Wickson (2007) “Social and Ethical Interactions with Nano: Mapping the Early Literature” NanoEthics 1: 89-104. The list was compiled as part of an interdisciplinary research project on social and ethical aspect of nanoscience and nanotechnology (nanoS&T). Kjølberg and Wickson (2007) articulated four thematic categories to describe the literature:

1. Governance: concerned with processes and institutions for decision-making, regulation, legislation and public engagement (about 40% of the entries used governance as a primary focus; around 20% used governance as secondary topic).
2. Perception: examining how nanoS&T and ELSA are understood, presented, talked about and imagined (roughly one third uses perception as main focus, nearly 20% as secondary topic).
3. Science: exploring the practice of nanoS&T development and instrumentation (less than 10% deals with science as primary focus, whereas 20% discusses the category as secondary topic).
4. Philosophy: engaging questions of metaphysics, the natural/artifical and ethical norms (approximately 15% as primary focus; 13% as secondary topic).

Besides these main themes, Kjølberg and Wickson (2007) also identified cross-category themes such as the definition of nanoS&T, the novelty of nanoS&T, and the interdisciplinarity of nanoS&T.