Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Response to: Scientists must engage with the ethical implications of their work

International Journal of Impotence Research volume 35, page 308 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Cunningham [1] takes issue with a single sentence from our paper [2], where we stated that we had ‘no interest’ in the ongoing debates regarding prophylactic, sexual, and ethical aspects of circumcision. Cunningham argues the language we used “is ambiguous and it could… be taken to imply that [we] are indifferent to such questions or do not see them as being relevant to [our] scientific work”. However, as Cunningham also acknowlwedges, “It is possible that [we] meant to convey, simply, that a thorough or substantive discussion of such matters went beyond the scope of what [we] could accomplish with [our] already quite lengthy paper”.

We thank Cunningham for pointing out the potential ambiguity in our choice of language. We affirm that the latter interpretation is correct: in stating that we had “no interest” in the aforementioned issues, we simply meant to convey that “a thorough or substantive discussion of such matters went beyond the scope of what [we] could accomplish with [our] already quite lengthy paper”.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Cunningham EJ. Scientists must engage with the ethical implications of their work: a commentary on Cepeda-Emiliani et al. Int J Impot Res. 2022:1–2. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41443-022-00618-9.

  2. Cepeda-Emiliani A, Gándara-Cortés M, Otero-Alén M, García H, Suárez-Quintanilla J, García-Caballero T, et al. Immunohistological study of the density and distribution of human penile neural tissue: gradient hypothesis. Int J Impot Res. 2022:1–20. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41443-022-00561-9.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Morphological Sciences, School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Alfonso Cepeda-Emiliani

Authors
  1. Alfonso Cepeda-Emiliani
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Concept, writing and revisions: ACE.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alfonso Cepeda-Emiliani.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Cepeda-Emiliani, A. Response to: Scientists must engage with the ethical implications of their work. Int J Impot Res 35, 308 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41443-022-00638-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41443-022-00638-5

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links