Call for papers - Ethical AI in healthcare

Guest Editors

Melissa McCradden, PhD, MHSc, Australian Institute for Machine Learning of The University of Adelaide; Women’s and Children’s Health Network, Australia
Seppe Segers, PhD, Ghent University, Belgium

Submission Status: Open | Submission Deadline: 27 November 2025

BMC Medical Ethics is calling for submissions to our Collection, Ethical AI in healthcare. We aim to explore critical issues such as bias in algorithms, patient privacy, and the implications of healthcare automation. We welcome research on best practices and guidelines for the ethical use of AI technologies in medical settings, ultimately enhancing patient safety, and promoting equitable healthcare access.

New Content Item This Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities.

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Meet the Guest Editors

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Melissa McCradden, PhD, MHSc, Australian Institute for Machine Learning of The University of Adelaide; Women’s and Children’s Health Network, Australia

Dr McCradden is the AI Director and Deputy Research Director with the Women's and Children's Health Network, and a Deputy Director and The Hospital Research Foundation Group Fellow at the Australian Institute for Machine Learning, University of Adelaide. She is an Adjunct Scientist with the SickKids Research Institute and member of the SickKids Research Ethics Board in Toronto. Her expertise is in the development of ethical frameworks derived from clinical & technical knowledge grounded in policy, law, and moral theory.

Seppe Segers, PhD, Ghent University, Belgium

Dr Segers is a professor of ethics & moral science at Ghent University. His interests concern the domains of value theory, theoretical and substantive ethics, including ethical questions about parenthood, genome editing, and ectogestation, as well as normative questions about moral imagination, speculation and interpretation and broader themes within moral epistemology. Part of his research is dedicated to the study of the moral understanding of concepts like ‘need’, ‘desire’, ‘hope’, and ‘guilt’, as well as ‘disruptive innovation’ in healthcare and moral challenges about AI-led medicine.

About the Collection

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare is becoming more prevalent in medical practice and diagnostics; however, this rapid advancement raises critical ethical questions surrounding the governance of AI. Issues such as algorithmic bias, patient privacy, and transparency of machine learning models are at the forefront of this discussion.

Recent advancements have highlighted the potential for AI to improve patient outcomes through enhanced diagnostics and personalized treatment plans. However, these benefits must be balanced against risks such as data security breaches and the perpetuation of existing biases in healthcare systems. With human-AI relationship continually developing, any risks, such as clinicians failing to detect errors in LLM-generated notes—potentially leading to patient harm—arise from human factors rather than the technology itself. This highlights the need for broader ethical considerations beyond the AI tool to facilitate its integration into clinical practice.

With the inevitable integration of AI into healthcare, the continued dialogue on AI ethics is necessary to shape guidelines that safeguard patient safety and uphold the principles of equity and justice in healthcare.

BMC Medical Ethics is calling for submissions to our Collection, Ethical AI in healthcare. Key topics of interest for submission include, but are not limited to:

Addressing clinical bias in healthcare algorithms
Patient privacy and data security in AI applications
Ethical implications of healthcare automation related to real-time use of AI applications
Transparency in machine learning for clinical settings
Ethical issues arising from the sociotechnical context of AI use
Ethics around the environmental implications of AI use, with respect to human health

This Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities.

All manuscripts submitted to this journal, including those submitted to collections and special issues, are assessed in line with our editorial policies and the journal’s peer review process. Reviewers and editors are required to declare competing interests and can be excluded from the peer review process if a competing interest exists.

There are currently no articles in this collection.

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of original Research Articles. Should you wish to submit a different article type, please read our submission guidelines to confirm that type is accepted by the journal. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Ethical AI in healthcare" from the dropdown menu.

All manuscripts submitted to this journal, including those submitted to collections and special issues, are assessed in line with our editorial policies and the journal’s peer review process. Reviewers and editors are required to declare competing interests and can be excluded from the peer review process if a competing interest exists.