News From The Scripted Offices
Findlay Stark*
Cite as: F Stark , "News From The Scripted
Offices", (2010) 7:2 SCRIPTed 242, http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/ahrc/script-ed/vol7-2/editorial.asp
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© Findlay Stark 2010. |
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We do not tend to do “special issues” at SCRIPTed. Nevertheless, this issue must be deemed special – in some sense – for three reasons.
First, we do not have an “editorial” as such: instead we have this brief introduction to the issue and two short overviews of the articles and analysis sections.
This leads to the second point of significance: typically, the articles and analysis pieces we publish are not themed. Instead we rely on the submitted pieces which cover a myriad of topics and disciplinary fields. Not so with this issue, which is split (somewhat neatly) into two thematically-linked parts.
The articles all come from “Beyond the Embryo: Transnational, Transdisciplinary and Translational Perspectives on Stem Cell Research”, a workshop which was held at the Brocher Foundation (Hermance, Geneva) on 14-15 November 2009. As Isasi and Knoppers explain in their introduction to these trans-disciplinary and transnational works, the aim of the workshop was to explore the state of stem cell research in the context of commercialisation and globalisation. This has invited a number of different approaches to the subject (from the popular press’s coverage of the issue to the implications of Islam for stem cell research in Iran). We hope that you find these articles as thought-provoking as we have.
At first glance, our analysis section might be thought to deal with less important issues, being concerned as it is with the issue of zombies... Nevertheless, as Shawn Harmon (our Editor-in-Chief) explains in his introduction to these works: “just because SCRIPTed is a serious interdisciplinary academic journal with an emphasis on technologies and their regulation does not mean we should hesitate to engage with the fantastic, the speculative or even the creepy”. As many of the pieces demonstrate, the issues around zombies in popular culture – far from being “out there” – are crucially important to the topics which are discussed frequently in this journal. They ought, in short, to be taken seriously, and the five analysis pieces – covering topics as varied as AI and anthropology – should be food for thought (especially Neil Stephens’ piece on In Vitro meat!)
The third, and final, reason why this issue is special (at least to me) is that it marks the end of my time as Managing Editor. I have thoroughly enjoyed undertaking this role and would like to thank the Editorial Board, the journal’s contributors and, perhaps most importantly, the journal’s readers for their kind support and assistance over the last year. I have every faith that my successor, Yolande Stolte, will take SCRIPTed to new heights as its international reputation increases to grow.
Over its seven years of existence, SCRIPTed has (including the works in this issue) published nine covers, thirty (ish) editorials, ninety-eight articles, seventy-three analysis pieces, thirteen reports and seventy-eight book reviews. As an open-access online journal, we are able to compile a range of statistics on our readership, and I would like – on behalf of the Editorial Board – to thank the tens of thousands of readers who have visited our website from all over the world.
* PhD candidate, University of Edinburgh; Managing Editor, SCRIPTed – A Journal of Law, Technology & Society.