As both an editor and a scientist, Bob Edwards promoted an inclusive vision of the scope of reproductive science and medicine by embracing their many social and ethical ramifications, and by immersing himself in debate and discussion about their short- and longer-term implications. This vision was first clearly articulated in his Nature paper with David Sharpe published in 1971 entitled ‘Social values and research in human embryology’ (Edwards and Sharpe, 1971), which ‘nucleated’ many subsequent interdisciplinary papers, meetings and discussion fora. It was originally Bob’s hope that the seventh issue of each volume of RBMO, published every 6 months under the sub-title Ethics, Bioscience and Life (EBL), would be a stepping-stone to a new and independent journal devoted to the reproductive humanities and social sciences. EBL ceased publication in 2012, ironically in the midst of a very noticeable expansion of interest from the social sciences and humanities in reproductive biomedicine. An expansive vision of reproductive studies now stretches far beyond ethico-legal and social psychological perspectives, but lacks a high-calibre publication outlet. It is the burgeoning context of new interdisciplinary work on reproduction and reproductive biomedicine for which RBMS provides a unique and timely forum.
This new journal will accept high-quality original papers, reviews and commentaries on topics in the Social Sciences and Humanities concerning reproductive bioscience and medicine. The subject areas of interest will include Politics, Sociology and Social Policy, Philosophy, Anthropology, Psychology, the Arts, History, Ethics and Law as related to reproductive biomedicine. There will be two open-access (that is, freely available) online-only volumes each year from July 2015, totaling about 150 pages. Submissions will be via the Elsevier Editorial System (EES) with rapid review and online publication using similar processes as for RBMO.
Editor-in-Chief: Sarah Franklin
Editor-in-Chief: Martin Johnson
Section Editor: Marcia C. Inhorn