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500 BC
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800 AD
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1500s
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1700s
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1779- Johann Peter Frank writes strict ethical guidelines for public health and sanitation to improve the quality of life.
- 1794 -- Sir Thomas Percival writes first modern code of medical ethics.
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1800s
1900-1950
- 1927 -- The term "bioethics" is first coined by Fritz Jahr.
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1940s -- Nazi medical experiments horrify the world.
1948 -- Declaration of Geneva -- World Medical Association, reacting in part to Nazi experiments, creates a modern re-statement of the Hippocratic Oath, noting in part the duty of physicians to serve the humanitarian goals of medicine. One part declares: "I will retain the utmost respect for life, even under threat.."
1950-1970
- 1959 -- Henry Knowles Beecher writes "Experimentation in Man" for JAMA, detailed ethical codes in medical research to date and advocated informed consent and the use of placebos in control subjects for clinical trials. "A great deal can be done... by disseminating information on past experience and thinking.
- 1961--The Milgram Experiment was conducted to test how far a subject would go to earn approval of an authority figure. The experiment was thought to violate many ethical standards due to extenuating emotional conflict and stress.
- 1964 -- Declaration of Helsinki -- World Medical Association agrees on a code of research ethics; most journal editors required that research be performed in accordance with the Declaration. The declaration led to the Institutional Review Board (IRB) process.
1970-2000
- 1975-- The Asilomar Conference on Recombinant DNA,organized by Paul Berg, proposes ethical guidelines for biotechnology uses and safety.
- 1979-- Belmont Report drafted by the Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare in response to the Tuskegee Experiments. It reports the ethical guidelines to be used when human subjects are involved in research.
- 1996 -- Turnitin.com created. Large undergraduate classes at UC Berkely inspired the creation of the website, which aims to prevent duplicate research papers being handed in.
- 1997--COPE, the Committee on Publication Ethics was established in the UK. Its members consist of academic journal editors and others who are concerned about the integrity of what is peer-reviewed and published in journals.
2000s
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2000-- Committee on Publication Ethics issues report.
2004-- eTBLAST created to search for similarity of articles in scientific databases. It has led to research involving plagiarism and duplicate publications of articles in academic journals.
2005 -- United Nations Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights