SIZE MATTERS

The JME publishes papers across the whole range of methodology in medical ethics. We publish papers based on pure philosophical analysis and we publish papers reporting empirical studies, and you will find both kinds of papers in this issue. It is, nevertheless, rare that we publish studies with a sample size of 3959 respondents. The empirical studies we publish are usually somewhat smaller. We are therefore happy to publish the paper by Swartling et al analysing the views of parents whose children participate in a Swedish longitudinal child cohort. This paper contributes to a live debate in research ethics and provides valuable empirical evidence. Let me just highlight two of their important findings. When asked at what age children should begin to participate in decisions about study participation, the median answer was 8 years and the 90th percentile 10 years (table 2), showing significant trust in the decision-making abilities of young (ish) children. But when asked about which interests it is most important to protect …