History of the Journal
Now in its third decade of publication, the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal (KIEJ) is an interdisciplinary quarterly journal of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University. Over time, the journal’s focus has evolved as the field of bioethics has itself shifted and matured. In its early years, the journal emphasized traditional concerns in bioethics, such as the ethics of clinical research and physician-patient relations, but soon broadened its perspective to include moral issues in emerging medical technologies like human embryonic stem cell research and genetic testing. More recently, the journal’s purview has expanded to include normative aspects of human health and well-being, such as public health ethics and environmental justice, as well as ethical and social issues in science practice. Today, the editorial team continues to expand the journal’s horizons to keep the journal at the forefront of further developments in the discipline: only fitting for a journal which has for so long been a leader in the field.
Mission Statement
The KIEJ seeks to publish philosophically rigorous and empirically informed articles that explore the conceptual foundations and complexities of bioethical issues. The editorial team construes ‘bioethics’ maximally broadly, so as to include ethical, social, and political issues concerning public health, medicine, the environment, the natural sciences, nutrition, human embodiment, and sustainability and development, along with all standard bioethical topics.
We solicit in-depth articles (average 8,000-12,000 words) that combine detailed conceptual analysis with practical engagement. While we accept papers in all areas of bioethics, we are especially interested in publishing papers that explore ethical and social issues in science practice, and/or philosophical approaches to health, environmental, and science policy. We encourage articles that situate philosophical and ethical issues in a global context.
Prospective authors should feel free to contact the editorial team for advice concerning whether their manuscripts are suitable for submission to KIEJ and how to bring them in line with the journal’s mission.
Editorial Team
Quill R Kukla, Editor-in-Chief
Quill R Kukla, PhD, is a Senior Research Scholar at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics and Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University. Professor Kukla’s research interests include reproductive ethics and the culture of pregnancy and motherhood, public health ethics, the ethics of health communication, research ethics, methodological issues in medical research, and the social epistemology of medicine. Much of their research bridges bioethics, epistemology, and philosophy of language. Of late, they have particularly been interested in ethical and epistemological issues surrounding risk reasoning and communication. They explore these issues at all levels of medical practice, from trial design and the interpretation of scientific results, to evidence-based medicine guidelines, to physician-patient communication, to health promotion campaigns and media representations of risk, to laypeople’s judgments and discussions about risk.
Madeline Ward, Managing Editor
Madeline Ward, MPhil, is a PhD candidate in the Department of Philosophy at Georgetown University. Her research is focused on social epistemology and public health issues in bioethics.
Elisa Reverman, Assistant Managing Editor
Elisa Reverman is a PhD student in the Department of Philosophy at Georgetown University, interested in clinical ethics, bioethics, and feminist philosophy. She earned a bachelor’s degree in biology, and worked in biomedical engineering until diverting her interests to philosophy.
Christopher Kochevar, Book Review Editor
Christopher Kochevar is a PhD student in the Department of Philosophy at Georgetown University, interested in philosophy of mind, phenomenology, and bioethics. His undergraduate work focused on molecular biology and philosophy, and he holds a JD from NYU School of Law. Before coming to Georgetown, he worked for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as an attorney in the Office of the Chief Counsel.
Editorial Board
Alireza Bagheri, MD, PhD
School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran
Dan W. Brock, PhD
Department of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Lisa Sowle Cahill, PhD
Department of Theology, Boston College
Arthur Caplan, PhD
Division of Medical Ethics, New York University Langone Medical Center
Alexander M. Capron, LLB
Pacific Center for Health Policy and Ethics, University of Southern California
James Childress, PhD
Department of Religious Studies, University of Virginia
Dena S. Davis, JD, PhD
Department of Religion Studies, Lehigh University
Ronald M. Green, PhD
Ethics Institute, Dartmouth College
Henk ten Have, MD, PhD
Center for Healthcare Ethics, Duquesne University
Rihito Kimura, PhD
Keisen University, Japan
Bernard Lo, MD
Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
Joanne Lynn, MD
Center on Elder Care and Advanced Illness, Altarum Institute
Aaron L. Mackler, PhD
Department of Theology, Duquesne University
Alan Meisel, JD
Center for Bioethics and Health Law, University of Pittsburgh
Paul T. Menzel, PhD
Department of Philosophy, Pacific Lutheran University
Jing-Bao Nie, BMed, MMed, PhD
Bioethics Centre, Division of Health Sciences, University of Otago, New Zealand
Margaret A. Somerville, AuA, LLB, DCL
Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law, McGill University, Canada
Dan Wikler, PhD
Department of Population and International Health, Harvard School of Public Health
Stuart J. Youngner, MD
Department of Bioethics, Case Western Reserve University