Research Guides: Stem Cell Research: Ethical and Religious Issues

Introduction

This page highlights resources to search for books and articles on the ethical and religious issues involved in the use of embryonic stem cells.

Defining Terms

To define terms related to the ethics of embryonic stem cell research, use one of the encyclopedias of philosophy or religion listed below:

Encyclopedia of Science and Religion
"A multidisciplinary approach that addresses all aspects of the dialogue between the sciences and the world's religions, reaching into the humanities as well as into the physical sciences and technology."
New Catholic Encyclopedia
Use related terms like "abortion". Represents the established Roman Catholic viewpoint on bioethical issues.
SAGE Encyclopedia of Stem Cell Research
"Filled with new procedures and medical breakthroughs, including executive orders from the Obama administration reversing barriers to research imposed under the Bush administration, court rulings impacting NIH funding of research based on human embryonic stem cells, edicts by the Papacy and other religious leaders, and the first success in cloning human stem cells, this is an updated second edition of SAGE's encyclopedia. Over 270 new and updated articles explore major topics in ways accessible to nonscientists, thus bringing readers up-to-date with where stem cell biology stands today."

Searching for Books

The following ebook collections can be used to search for books on ethical and religious issues related to embryonic stem cells.

Searching with terms such as "stem cells AND ethics" will likely yield relevant results. Note that the word "embryonic" is not always used in catalog records.

AccessMedicine
AccessMedicine is an online collection of key medical reference texts that provide authoritative and current medical data. Medical news, updates, patient education information, a diagnostic tool, and an integrated drug database with information about dosages, trade names, and pricing are also part of this resource.
HathiTrust Digital Library
The HathiTrust Digital Library includes millions of books, government publications, dissertations, journals, and other published and unpublished materials. Created by a partnership of academic and research institutions, the Library offers materials digitized from collections in libraries around the world and including a wide range of languages. Titles published prior to 1923 and those that are open access or Creative Commons-licensed are available full-text. Other materials include limited-access searching.
Proquest Ebook Central
ProQuest Ebook Central contains over 200,000 ebooks from various publishers across a wide range of academic disciplines. The collection includes books from major university presses and other scholarly publishers.
SpringerLink
SpringerLink is a full-text journal and e-book package covering thousands of scholarly titles in the following fields: architecture and design, biomedical and life sciences, business and economics, chemistry and materials science, computer science, earth and environmental science, engineering, humanities, psychology/behavioral science, social sciences and law, mathematics and statistics, medicine, and physics and astronomy.
QuickSearch (library catalog)

Searching for Articles

Below is a list of indexes, databases, and other sources to search for articles relevant to the ethical and religious considerations of embryonic stem cell research.

To locate additional databases, please visit the libraries Databases page.

Atla Religion Database
The premier Religion index with some full-text - use terms like "stem cells" or "biomedical research".
Bioethics Information Resources (NLM)
Search within PubMed, the NLM Catalog, Genetics Home Reference, Medline Plus and additional resources from the National Library of Medicine on bioethics.
JSTOR
An important interdisciplinary database -- use terms like "stem cell" combined with terms like "ethics".
Philosopher's Index
The major index of philosophical articles - use terms like "stem cell" [singular] or "embryo" combined with terms like "ethics".