Ethiktool: Software for ethics applications
We developed the "Ethiktool" software to support researchers in composing ethics applications for research involving human participants. A user-centered dialogue guides the ethics applicant through all relevant questions and asks for information for putting together the ethics application form and the informed consent form as well as other participant documents.
The Ethiktool is based on experience with a predecessor software that was used successfully at TU Chemnitz since the university-wide ethics committee had been established in mid-2021. The current Ethiktool is developed by a project team led by Alexandra Bendixen with team members at TU Chemnitz, at the Leibniz Institute for Psychology (ZPID) and at Bielefeld University. The current development has been financially supported by the Volkswagen Foundation since 2023, whose support will continue till 2026.
We are advancing and preparing the "Ethiktool" for use at other sites and will provide it free of charge to all interested ethics committees. If you want us to actively update you on further development steps of the Ethiktool, you are welcome to sign up for our database; alternatively, you can retrieve information about Ethiktool updates. Please also visit our frequently asked questions and answers.
Ethiktool Team
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| Prof. Dr. Alexandra Bendixen, TU Chemnitz, project lead | Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Einhäuser-Treyer, TU Chemnitz | M.Sc. Tina Frenzel, TU Chemnitz | Dr. Inka Schmitz, TU Chemnitz | Dr. Katarina Blask, Leibniz Institute for Psychology (ZPID) | Dr. Thomas Wegner, Leibniz Institute for Psychology (ZPID) | Dr. Eva-Maria Berens, Universität Bielefeld |
Publications on the Ethiktool
If you use the Ethiktool for your research, please cite our work:
for the general approach:
- Bendixen, A., Wegner, T. G. G., & Einhäuser, W. (in press). Facilitating Ethics Application and Review for Interdisciplinary Human-Participant Research via Software-Based Guidance and Standardization. In B. Meyer, U. Thomas, & O. Kanoun (Eds.), Hybrid Societies - Humans Interacting with Embodied Technologies (Vol. 1). Springer.
for the current implementation:
- Bendixen, A., Wegner, T., Blask, K., Berens, E.-M., Frenzel, T., & Einhäuser, W. (2024, Conference Abstract). Ethiktool – A software solution to support the ethical assessment of research projects. Demonstration at the 53rd DGPs Congress / 15th ÖGP conference, Vienna, September 2024.
- Bendixen, A., Wegner, T.G.G., Blask, K., Berens, E.-M., Frenzel, T., & Einhäuser, W. (2025, Conference Abstract). Ethiktool – Eine Softwarelösung zur Unterstützung der ethischen Begutachtung von Forschungsvorhaben. Talk at the 67th Conference of Experimental Psychologists, Frankfurt (Main), March 2025. https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.16438
for parts that pertain to data privacy and data re-use:
- Bendixen, A., Berens, E.-M., Wegner, T.G.G., Einhäuser, W., & Blask, K. (2025, Conference Paper). Data (Re-)Use in Human-Participant Research: Guided Composition of Informed Consent Forms. Poster at the 2nd Conference on Research Data Infrastructure (CoRDI), Aachen, August 2025. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16735895
