About

The Canadian Journal of Bioethics is a peer-reviewed, bilingual (French and English), international, open access academic journal that publishes theoretical, conceptual and empirical research in bioethics. The aim of the journal is to provide a space for the publication of high quality and thought provoking bioethics scholarship of diverse forms (e.g., articles, commentaries, book reviews, editorials, debate pieces, case studies) and from across the full range of specialties in the field (e.g., clinical ethics, research ethics, public health ethics, technology ethics, professional ethics). The journal welcomes submissions that might not otherwise be publishable in US or European bioethics journals because of the language (e.g., in French), jurisdictional context (e.g., specific national issues or cases), form or subject matter (e.g., using diverse theoretical frameworks or applying novel methods).

Formerly published as BioéthiqueOnline (archives 2012-2017), BO remains the social media arm of the journal (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn).

The journal is a collaborative endeavour between the Bioethics Program and the Bioethics Student Association (AÉBiUM) at the School of Public Health of the Université de Montréal; it uses a completely online platform to bring together scholarly and professional resources to help foster the development of a robust, collaborative and bilingual bioethics community in Montreal and across Quebec, but also more generally in Canada and internationally.

Editorial policy and ethics

Review Process
Manuscripts will be evaluated (open, non-blinded) by two members of the Editorial Board (a section editor and another member of the Board), and if necessary, by the Executive Committee. Article submissions will also be peer-reviewed.

To ensure full transparency, the evaluating editors will be named on all publications. Manuscripts will be evaluated for originality, academic merit, pertinence and innovation, according to a standardized marking grid (which will be provided to authors). Manuscripts will then be accepted with minor or major revisions, or rejected if they do not meet the standards of the journal. The editors will work with authors, to the extent that is reasonable, to help arrive at publications of the highest quality. The editors will respect requests from authors that a particular editor not review their submission, if these are well reasoned and practicable. When revisions are requested prior to final decision, revised papers must be received within 1 month. Should an author be dissatisfied with an editorial decision, they may submit an appeal to the Executive Committee, who will meet to review all pertinent documentation (manuscript, emails, evaluations, etc.) and render a final decision within 1 month.

Publishing Fees

The Canadian Journal of Bioethics is an open access non-profit journal dedicated to furthering the advancement of open discussion concerning bioethics. Authors will never be asked to pay any fees associated with the publication of their articles.

Copyright

The Canadian Journal of Bioethics applies the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License to all its publications. Authors therefore retain copyright of their publication, e.g., they can reuse their publication, link to it on their home page or institutional website, deposit a PDF in a public repository such as PubMed Central. However, the authors allow anyone to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute, and/or copy their publication, so long as the original authors and source are cited:

Authors. Year. Canadian Journal of Bioethics / Revue canadienne de bioéthique, volume(issue) (www.cjb-rcb.ca/vol/issue)

Prior Publication

Manuscripts are considered provided they have not been previously published or are not concurrently under review elsewhere for publication. The Editorial Board will nonetheless consider propositions for the inclusion of previously published material (assuming permission from the copyright holder has been obtained) in thematic sections of the website. Figures or tables that have been published elsewhere must be identified, and permission of the copyright holder must be provided.

Errata

The Canadian Journal of Bioethics will publish corrections for errors, made by the journal or authors, of a scientific nature that do not alter the overall basic results or conclusions; a note to this effect, with a label CORRECTION, will be added to a revised PDF of the publication. Corrections or errors linked to non-scientific content such as minor typographic errors, the correspondence information, etc. will not be published as errata. The Canadian Journal of Bioethics will publish retractions for major errors that may call into question the source of the data or the validity of the results and conclusions of a publication. In the event that the validity of the entire paper is called into question, this may result in retraction and possible investigation. Errata are published at the discretion of the editors and appear as formal online notices in the journal.

The editors follow the recommendations and procedures outlined in the COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors. Specifically, the editors will work to ensure the highest ethical standards of publication, including: the identification and management of conflicts of interest (for editors and for authors), the fair evaluation of manuscripts, and the publication of manuscripts that meet the journal’s standards of excellence. All work should be free of fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism as defined by the Canadian Tri-Agency Framework: Responsible Conduct Of Research. Where editors detect possible misconduct with regards to a submission, they are ethically obliged to act, first by seeking a response from the corresponding author and if not satisfied, by following-up with the relevant employer or institution. Editors should make all reasonable efforts to ensure that a proper investigation into alleged misconduct is conducted.

Authorship

Authorship should be limited to those who have contributed substantially to the work. The corresponding author must have obtained permission from all authors for the submission of the manuscript and for any change in authorship. The corresponding author is the formal guarantorof the manuscript, and thus the individual identified as accountable for the integrity of the content, including data and results if applicable, reported in the paper. The corresponding author is responsible for replying to e-mails associated with the review of their manuscript. All authors share part of the responsibility for any manuscript they coauthor, and as such, must ensure (to the best of their knowledge) that the paper is an accurate, verifiable report of the research. While all coauthors may not be experts in all aspects of the research presented in their paper, they should have in place an appropriate process for reviewing the accuracy of the reported results.

Conflict of Interest

Authors

All authors and editors must disclose any association that poses a conflict of interest in connection with the manuscript. As described in the 2nd edition of the Canadian Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans, a conflict of interest may arise when activities or situations place an individual or institution in a real, potential or perceived conflict between the duties or responsibilities related to research, and personal, institutional or other interests. In the context of publication, examples of possible or potential conflicts of interest include a close personal friendship or family relationship with members on the Editorial Board, certain funding sources, or particular ideological, political or religious beliefs. Many interests of this sort will be managed effectively through disclosure, either in the text (e.g., one’s personal political or religious perspective) on in a declaration of interests (e.g., a funder) at the top of the publication. Authors should disclose relevant conflicts of interest to the editor, and work to manage those conflicts that cannot be avoided.

Editors

Members of the Editorial Board – including the Editor-in-chief and the Executive – will publish in the journal. To mitigate as much as possible this real and apparent conflict of interest, editors will not be involved in the review of their own manuscripts, or those in the section for which they are responsible. The evaluators of editor-authored manuscripts will follow the same principle as applied to non-editor authored manuscripts, namely, working to ensure that the final paper meets the highest standards of quality and academic excellence. To ensure full transparency, a note will be included at the top of any editor-authored paper stating that the author is also an editor at the journal, and enumerating any other conflicts of interest. Further, the names of the editors who evaluate a manuscript will always be named on the final publication, as is the case for all publications. The biographies of the editorial board will list all relevant interests (financial, academic, etc.) and will be regularly updated (at least annually).

Advertising and Commercial Interests

The Canadian Journal of Bioethics is a not-for-profit journal and run entirely on a volunteer basis; as such, editors are not remunerated for their journal related activities. The Editorial Board may on occasion decide to publicise certain events or activities on the journal website, but no paid advertising or sponsorship will be solicited or accepted.

Human Participants

Research involving human participants must have been approved by the author's institutional research ethics board (REB/IRB). Authors must include in their Methods section a brief statement identifying the institutional and/or licensing committee approving the research. Authors must also include a statement confirming that informed consent was obtained from all human participants. Research must have been conducted according to the principles expressed in the Canadian Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humansor similar international policies on research ethics (e.g., Declaration of Helsinki).

Materials and Data Availability

To allow others to replicate and build on work published in BioéthiqueOnline, authors must make materials, data, and associated protocols available to readers. Authors must disclose upon submission of the manuscript any restrictions on the availability of materials or information. Data not shown and personal communications should be of limited use to support claims in the work. Certain data or information can be kept confidential for ethical reasons (such as identifying information of participants). Any other reasons for concealing data or material must be justified. Authors are encouraged to deposit as much of their data as possible in publicly accessible databases. As for material banks, researchers are strongly encouraged to share material after publication to promote sharing within the scientific community.

Privacy Policy

The Canadian Journal of Bioethics will retain personal author information (e.g., contact details), solely with the objective of fulfilling the journal’s mandate and ensuring an efficient and ethical publication process. Personal information will be protected by reasonable security safeguards against loss or theft, as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification.

Editorial board

Editor-in-Chief

• Bryn Williams-Jones, PhD, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada

Executive Editors

• Vincent Couture, PhD, Université Laval, Québec, Canada
• Charles Dupras, PhD, McGill University, Québec, Canada

Scientific Director

• Aliya Affdal, MA, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada

Section Editors

• Vanessa Chenel, PhD, CIUSSS de l'Est de Montréal, Québec, Canada
• Patrick Gogognon, MA, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada
• Hazar Haidar, PhD, McGill University, Québec, Canada
• Charles Marsan, DVM, MA, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada
• Jacques Quintin, PhD, Université de Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada
• Louise Ringuette, MSc, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada

Editors

• Sihem Neila Abtroun, MDHCEU, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada
• Loubna Affdal, BSc, Université Paris V René Descartes, France
• Cécile Bensimon, PhD, Office of Ethics, Canadian Medical Association, Ottawa, Canada
• Stanislav Birko, BSc, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada
• Antoine Boudreau LeBlanc, MSc, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada
• Julien Brisson, MA, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada
• Marleen Eijkholt, PhD, Michigan State University, Michigan, USA
• Caroline Favron-Godbout, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada
• Angela Filipe, PhD, McGill University, Québec, Canada
• Amandine Fillol, MSc, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada
• Marie-Eve Lemoine, MA, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada
• Zubin Master, PhD, Mayo Clinic, Minnesota, USA
• Erica Monteferrante, BA, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada
• Tierry Morel-Laforce, MA, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada
• Armand Ngaketcha Njafang, MA, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada; Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgique
• Nico Nortjé, PhD, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, USA
• Mariana Nunez, MA, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada
• Danielle Paciulli, MA, DPS, Stony Brook University Hospital, New York, USA
• Bertrand Stoffel, PhD, McGill University, Québec, Canada

Production team

• Loubna Affdal, BSc, Université Paris V René Descartes, France
• Samia Cherfaoui, MA, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada
• Philippe-Aubert Côté, PhD, Québec, Canada
• Caroline Favron-Godbout, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada
• Sylvie Lesperence, MD, Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal, Québec, Canada
• Erica Monteferrante, BA, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada
• Tierry Morel-Laforce, MA, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada
• Armand Ngaketcha Njafang, MA, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada; Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
• Bryn Williams-Jones, PhD, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada

Artist in Residence

• Emanuelle Dufour, MA, Concordia University, Québec, Canada