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Topic · Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

Ethics in Clinical Research

Ethics in Clinical Research is a research topic within Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health. Science Explorer counts 25k research works in it since 1950. 21.8% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the ethical considerations and challenges in medical research participation, including issues related to informed consent, clinical trials, minority recruitment, genomic research, human subjects protection, biobanking, and vulnerability in research. The papers also discuss strategies for improving recruitment and retention of diverse populations in research studies.

  • Informed Consent
  • Clinical Trials
  • Research Participation
  • Ethical Guidelines
  • Minority Recruitment
  • Genomic Research
  • Human Subjects Protection
  • Biobanking
  • Vulnerability in Research
  • Community Engagement
Research works
25k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
5.4k
per year above
Top-10% rate
21.8%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+28%
the tick is no change

This ranks research output and citation impact. It says nothing about the quality of diagnosis, treatment or care.

Which countries lead Ethics in Clinical Research research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (2.2k and 515 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 2.2k works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 515 works
  3. 3 Canada 296 works
  4. 4 Australia 243 works
  5. 5 Germany 210 works
  6. 6 India 173 works
  7. 7 China 155 works
  8. 8 Netherlands 130 works
  9. 9 France 121 works
  10. 10 Italy 114 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 53.1%United Kingdom: 12.3%Canada: 7.1%Australia: 5.8%6 others listed: 21.7%53%largest
United States2,213 · 53.1%United Kingdom515 · 12.3%Canada296 · 7.1%Australia243 · 5.8%6 others listed904 · 21.7%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Ethics in Clinical Research research?

By volume in 2022–2025, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill publishes the most Ethics in Clinical Research research, followed by Harvard University and University of Pennsylvania.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 65 works
  2. 2 Harvard UniversityUnited States 35 works
  3. 3 University of PennsylvaniaUnited States 33 works
  4. 4 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 27 works
  5. 5 Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 27 works
  6. 6 University of California, San FranciscoUnited States 26 works
  7. 7 Stanford UniversityUnited States 25 works
  8. 8 University of WashingtonUnited States 24 works
  9. 9 University of MichiganUnited States 24 works
  10. 10 New York UniversityUnited States 21 works

Who are the leading researchers in Ethics in Clinical Research?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Ethics in Clinical Research include David Moher, Douglas G. Altman and Isabelle Boutron.

  1. 1 David Moher Canada 38k citations
  2. 2 Douglas G. Altman United Kingdom 23k citations
  3. 3 Isabelle Boutron France 14k citations
  4. 4 Asbjørn Hróbjartsson Denmark 13k citations
  5. 5 John P. A. Ioannidis United States 8k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Ethics in Clinical Research research done?

The largest centres of Ethics in Clinical Research research in 2022–2025 are London (United Kingdom), New York (United States), Boston (United States) and Melbourne (Australia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Bethesda, Chapel Hill and San Francisco.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 London United Kingdom 150 works
  2. 2 New York United States 123 works
  3. 3 Boston United States 96 works
  4. 4 Melbourne Australia 70 works
  5. 5 Chapel Hill United States 68 works
  6. 6 Philadelphia United States 66 works
  7. 7 Washington D.C. United States 61 works
  8. 8 Toronto Canada 59 works
  9. 9 Baltimore United States 55 works
  10. 10 Cambridge United States 53 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. BethesdaUS · 50.4 works7.7×
  2. Chapel HillUS · 68.2 works7.2×
  3. San FranciscoUS · 48.4 works7.0×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Ethics in Clinical Research than the world average.

See Ethics in Clinical Research on the map

Where is the best place to study Ethics in Clinical Research?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Aberdeen, University of Oxford and Harvard University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 30.18%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →University of Aberdeen: 11, 35.1%University of Oxford: 28, 37.5%Harvard University: 35, 27.8%University of California, San Francisco: 26, 21.9%The University of Melbourne: 20, 29.2%Makerere University: 9, 24.7%University of California, Irvine: 16, 23.4%Stanford University: 25, 29.8%The University of Sydney: 17, 34.8%KU Leuven: 11, 37.6%University of OxfordUniversity of AberdeenHarvard UniversityUniversity of Califo…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 University of AberdeenUnited Kingdom 67.835.1%10.0×11 +47.5%
2 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 62.037.5%4.1×28 +50.2%
3 Harvard UniversityUnited States 58.227.8%5.3×35 +64.7%
4 University of California, San FranciscoUnited States 53.321.9%7.7×26 +60.8%
5 The University of MelbourneAustralia 53.029.2%4.0×20 +114.3%
6 Makerere UniversityUganda 52.424.7%9.1×9 +33.8%
7 University of California, IrvineUnited States 51.423.4%5.4×16 +231.8%
8 Stanford UniversityUnited States 50.529.8%3.9×25 +64.1%
9 The University of SydneyAustralia 50.334.8%3.3×17 +31.6%
10 KU LeuvenBelgium 49.737.6%2.4×11 +54.3%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Ethics in Clinical Research research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 28% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Ethics in Clinical Research.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.