Oncoethics in Transition: Ethical Challenges and Policy Responses Across the Cancer Care Continuum

Ethical challenges are inherent to healthcare and are particularly pronounced in oncology and cancer-related palliative care. Patients and their families often face profound vulnerability following diagnosis, during complex treatment trajectories, in transition, and at the end of life. These situations involve high levels of uncertainty, emotional distress, and a high probability of competing values. Ethical tensions may arise at the (inter-)personal, (inter-)professional, and systemic levels—for example, between autonomy and beneficence, innovation and equity, or prolongation of life and quality of life. At the same time, rapid developments in cancer therapies, increasing use of digital technologies, and persistent inequities in access to care further intensify these challenges. How health systems and public policy respond to these tensions—through governance structures, regulatory frameworks, resource allocation decisions, and standards of care—shapes ethical outcomes at both individual and population levels. Addressing these ethical issues in cancer care therefore requires nuanced, context-sensitive, and interdisciplinary approaches that reflect both clinical realities, individual situations, and broader public health considerations.

This Research Topic aims to advance critical and interdisciplinary scholarship on ethical issues in oncology and cancer-related palliative care, with particular emphasis on their policy, systemic, and population health dimensions. We invite contributions that explore both conceptual and empirical dimensions of oncoethics, including theoretical and normative analyses as well as empirical-ethical research covering qualitative, quantitative, mixed, and review methods. Submissions may address ethical challenges across the cancer care continuum—from diagnosis and treatment to survivorship and end-of-life care—and at multiple levels, including individual care, healthcare systems, and population health. Contributions that engage with health policy, governance, and systemic reform are especially encouraged, as are those examining how social position, life course, and structural inequalities shape the distribution of ethical burdens in cancer care. We particularly encourage work that engages with emerging developments, such as the use of artificial intelligence and evolving models of palliative care, alongside persistent concerns related to equity, access, and quality of care.

By bringing together diverse disciplinary and methodological perspectives, this Research Topic seeks to deepen understandings of ethical challenges in cancer care and to inform ethically sound health policies, public health strategies, and clinical practices. We welcome interdisciplinary contributions from public health, health policy, medicine, nursing, ethics, and related fields. Submissions should clearly articulate their ethical relevance and implications for policy, practice, or future research.

Suitable themes for manuscripts include, but are not limited to:

1. Resource allocation, cost, and justice in cancer care
2. Health policy, governance, and regulatory frameworks in oncology
3. Decision-making and shared responsibility in cancer care
4. Informed consent, communication, and disclosure
5. Care for vulnerable populations, e.g. people with intellectual or learning disabilities
6. Equity, access, and social inequalities across the cancer care continuum
7. Technology, data, and innovation in cancer care, e.g. use of AI, telecare or assistive technologies
8. Moral distress, workforce policy, and systemic responses to ethical climate in oncology
9. End-of-life care and palliative ethics
10. Psychosocial, relational, and family ethics in cancer care

Please note that manuscripts focusing solely on palliative care without explicit reference to cancer care are outside the scope of this Research Topic. If you are unsure whether your planned contribution fits the scope of this collection, please submit a manuscript summary of no more than 2,000 words so that the Topic Editors can confirm and provide some initial feedback.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Medical ethics, Cancer care, Oncology, Palliative care, Health policy, Social inequalities, Equity, Moral distress, Vulnerability

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.