Editorial - Electronic Eubios Ethics Institute
Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 5 (1995), 85-6.

The Eubios Ethics Institute is on the world wide web of Internet:

http://eubios.info/index.htm"

At the end of April to May we were in France at the UNESCO Bioethics Committee meetings, and then in the UK for a week. This gave a chance to meet several old friends and new colleagues who receive EJAIB. It reinforced the personal touch that is really so important in life and a reason for embarking on the journal and regular bimonthly news. As the evening gets later we are yet again finishing the journal, copying and sending another issue (the 28th). While the list of those directly receiving it is close to 400, I fortunately know most of those on the mailing list. From this issue it will be also available on-line, to the Internet users (now over 5 million and expected to at least double every year!). While many users will not be known, I hope that the idea of information sharing and bioethical ideals of love may be aided by the publication.

More information is on on-line site, and eventually all publications will be on-line when I spend more time to put them on. The news in bioethics and biotechnology files are on in topical form since January 1994; as are all the papers since then. Earlier issues will be on later, and more chapters of the books. In the future if you do not require a hard copy then it will save us copying - but we would still like to have feedback.

Will we lose money from subscriptions? Probably not, as more will be informed of the availability of the publications, and the book price is cheaper than printing out the whole copy from a computer - and in a better cover. It might allow those with difficulty reading the small print in EJAIB to print out larger copies. We appreciate the support given and hope this will be extended in the future. The ethics of copying is up to the readers of the papers - I would appreciate to know if the material is used. The work should be cited as indexed in the files.

During July and August we will be away a lot of the time, in NZ, Australia, then Japan, and in mid-July in Belgium and Germany, then August in Israel (see. p. 86 on the Centre) & the Middle East.

Please send papers - On the stated goals, up to 3000 words (exceptions considered). Papers should be typed double-spaced, and sent to the Editor. The papers will be send for review (suggestions welcome). The decision whether to publish will generally be notified within one month of receipt of the manuscript. After comments, and revisions, the accepted paper will be published at the earliest possible date. The reviewers may also include commentaries, to encourage debate.

Submission by Email is preferred if possible, but will not be a disadvantage in review. Generally use numbered references. When the revised paper is sent, a MacIntosh or IBM (MSDOS) 3.5 inch disc copy should be sent if Email is not available (unless computers are unavailable).

Short letters (up to 500 words) may be published without additional contact. In general such letters will be sent to a member of the editorial board, or other suitable referees, for comment. The editors will endeavour to allow revisions following their feedback. The journal always welcomes bioethics news reports, for sharing in the network.

As most should know Japan was shocked with the sarin gas attacks and murders, and the religious group has been charged (Lancet 345 (1995), 980-1, 1101-2, 1574). Japan is a mixed group of people like every society, as discussed in papers in this issue especially by Morioka. The ethics of research is a major theme in this issue, with the papers by Goldsmith, and the UNESCO draft guidelines.

Below this is a letter on the unethical citation practice of some US writers. How can this issue be solved? Maybe read non-US journals more is one, but we hope for a better solution - and we hope that those doing "bioethics" may recognise people everywhere have been living and working out issues for thousands of years! It did not just start in the 1970s in the USA!

I do offer the use of the Eubios Ethics Institute world wide web site to circulate papers on ethics. Please ask me for details as we need HTML-formatted text files. A reference library can be established. Also some cross-references to other network sites are already connected - many more are welcome. Please use Email if you have it.

- Darryl Macer


Go back to EJAIB July 1995
Go back to EJAIB