if I have been invited to review something that I think has an under-considered ethical foundation and potential for unethical use that perhaps the authors haven't considered, do I review that thing and make that part of the review, or decline to review?
@jonny
I would actually look if they do this kind of things on purpose or merely as an accident. And if its an OpenPeer Review where the Review will be read by others. Maybe you can just review the ethical parts?
@jonny I kind of hate this line of thinking but when it's something like this I often think if it's not me bringing it up, there's no guarantee another reviewer would bring it up.
@jonny Yeah I would echo this. When thoughtful people don't participate in problematic processes, then it creates a vacuum where only non-thoughtful people participate. On the other hand, you're not personally responsible for fixing everything that is wrong, or for what happens if you don't participate. I also feel that, if you decide to accept, you need to be prepared for the possibility that you do raise these issues and you are overruled. It benefits the rest of us if you participate, but you pay the individual price for getting involved, so ultimately it's a choice only you can make. 💜
@chrisXrodgers I appreciate your perspective :) I wish review was more of a process of communication in general, where the reviewer doesn't have the power of the gladiatorial thumb up or down, to lower the stakes and be able to explore some of the underlying ideas of the work. In this case I would be less invested in them agreeing with me than genuinely understanding the risk, and I guess practically to have those concerns be part of the work either as an attached review or the author adds it. Other things are of course more serious where I would be invested in trying to convince the authors to not do something, so I will keep this in mind if those circumstances come up - not to take the responsibility personally.
for clarification, I don't believe review processes should ever result in a "rejection" that means that work can't be seen, and I especially would not agree to review something just to sink it. I would just tell them that I think they are missing some discussion of the potential harms and that they should consider them when designing future projects.
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