Thursday, July 06, 2006

Ethnicity and skin color for dermatologists

There is a series of short commentaries (colloquium) about the use of ethnicity/race in dermatology research.

Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, June 2006: v54, Issue 6, p.1067-1077

This is what the editors Michael Bigby, MD and Jeffrey Bernhard MD conclude:

What then is the policy at the JAAD regarding the identification of race/ethnicity/skin color in scientific papers? Rather than a policy,
we suggest that authors inclined to include such descriptions in their
manuscripts ask themselves the following questions:

1. Is the identification of the patient's race/ethnicity/skin color
important to the understanding or pedagogical value of the
submitted manuscript?

2. Would the patient identify him/herself in the same way as the
authors have (and how do you know)?

3. Might the descriptor be open to racist intent or interpretation?

4. What is the evidence that the race/ethnicity/color of the patient(s)
plays a role in the entities described?


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