Call for Papers
Digitalization, Health, and Aging
Bioethics Special Issue
Online & Print Publication 2024
Guest Editors: Prof. Dr. Hans–Jörg Ehni; Dr. Regina Müller, MA; Elisabeth Langmann, MA
CLOSING DATE FOR SUBMISSIONS: 1st September, 2023
Digital technologies have evolved enormously in the healthcare sector and medicine in the past decades. The Covid–19 pandemic is often seen as a further huge stimulus regarding digital services in healthcare systems. In this regard, technologies promise improvements for various levels of healthcare and overall well–being. For instance, patients or healthy users can use digital technologies such as health apps to enhance their health literacy. Physicians can turn to artificial intelligence (AI) and Big Data technologies to facilitate diagnoses. In addition, electronic health records are expected to improve the efficiency of healthcare systems. At the same time, there is a strong demographic shift in most European countries. In the near future, more and more older adults will demand good medical care and services. Numerous digital applications, especially for older adults, already exist. These include, for example, digital technologies for communication or assistive technologies for care or rehabilitation as well as aging at home. However, there are only few efforts to systematically integrate the ethical discourses on digitalization and the use of technology in the context of aging. Thus, this special issue on “Digitalization, Health, and Aging” aims to bring together the ethical debates on digitization, health, and aging. For the special issue on “Digitalization, Health, and Ageing”, we invite research articles (of up to 6,000 words) that discuss ethical challenges in the context of digital technologies in healthcare for older adults.
Possible topics include (but are not limited to):
- Questions regarding ethical and social aspects in the context of digitalization and aging
- Concepts of aging well in the context of digital technologies
- Aging at home supported by the use of digital technologies
- Prioritisation and allocation of healthcare resources, access to healthcare, the digital divide
- Autonomy, empowerment, vulnerabilities, ageism
- Considerations from a public health (ethics) perspective
- Global or international perspectives
- Historical or legal perspectives on digitalization and aging
- Lived experiences of healthcare workers and (older) patients and/or users in the context of digitalization and aging
We welcome submissions from all academic disciplines related to the topic of this special issue (e.g., bioethics; philosophy; medicine; law; history; social and political sciences). For questions and inquiries, please contact the editors at regina.mueller@uni–bremen.de, Elisabeth.langmann@uni–tubingen.de or hans–joerg.ehni@uni–tuebingen.de
The author guidelines of Bioethics can be found here.
Manuscripts should be submitted here.
Please ensure that you select the manuscript type ‘Special Issue’ and state that your contribution is for the Special Issue “Digitalization, Health and Aging” when prompted.
The full Call as pdf can be found here.
Deadline: 01.09.2023