Data & Policy (Jan 2024)

AI-assisted prescreening of biomedical research proposals: ethical considerations and the pilot case of “la Caixa” Foundation

  • Carla Carbonell Cortés,
  • César Parra-Rojas,
  • Albert Pérez-Lozano,
  • Francesca Arcara,
  • Sarasuadi Vargas-Sánchez,
  • Raquel Fernández-Montenegro,
  • David Casado-Marín,
  • Bernardo Rondelli,
  • Ignasi López-Verdeguer

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1017/dap.2024.41
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 6

Abstract

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The “la Caixa” Foundation has been experimenting with artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted decision-making geared toward alleviating the administrative burden associated with the evaluation pipeline of its flagship funding program, piloting an algorithm to detect immature project proposals before they reach the peer review stage, and suggest their removal from the selection process to a human overseer. In this article, we explore existing uses of AI by publishers and research funding organizations to automate their selection pipelines, in addition to analyzing the conditions under which the focal case corresponds to a responsible use of AI and the extent to which these conditions are met by the current implementation, highlighting challenges and areas of improvement.

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