“This could be controversial, but not just in the usual way”: The roles and responsibilities of academic and journalistic publishing in social and behavioral genomics.

Alisha Giri – Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics

Abstract: Social and behavioral genomics (SBG) is the study of whether and how genetic differences between individuals correspond to differences in behaviors such as cognitive ability and outcomes such as occupational status. The field is the subject of staunch academic debate and controversy, in part because of a long history in which claims regarding genetic differences in human behavior have been used for nefarious purposes. Like any scientific domain, the conduct and translation of SBG is shaped by academic and journalistic publishing. Academic journals issue editorial guidelines and policies that inform how researchers select and present their studies. Media journalists select and report on academic studies for public audiences. Despite the effects that academic journal editors and media journalists may have on the scientific process, these groups’ perspectives on their roles in the conduct and translation of controversial research such as SBG, and their views on the downstream harms and benefits of such research are poorly understood. To begin filling this gap, we conducted semi-structured interviews with academic journal editors at journals that publish SBG research and media journalists who have reported on SBG studies. This project is among the first to examine the views of two groups that play an important role in how SBG research is conducted and communicated, especially to public audiences. As such, we advance scholarship on the ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) of a nascent field of genomic research.

Keywords: social and behavioral genomics, academic journal editors and media journalists, research publication and communication