Navigating the ethical landscape of educational research: a systematic scoping review

Research ethics is at the core of responsible and trustworthy scientific practice. This scoping review maps how peer-reviewed, English-language studies published between 2000 and 2022 have addressed research ethics within educational research, broadly defined to include preschool to higher education and the perspectives of learners, educators, policymakers, and the public. As a transdisciplinary field with relational and normative aims, educational research often seeks to enhance teaching and promote fairness and justice, thereby generating distinctive ethical challenges. Growing expectations for research-informed educational practice and the formalization of ethics through international, national, and institutional guidelines further underscore the importance of ethical competence at individual, collective, and organizational levels. Despite this, existing reviews indicate that ethical debates remain dominated by medical paradigms, with limited attention to the situated dilemmas common in educational settings, particularly for researchers studying their own professional contexts. This review examines (1) the characteristics of studies addressing research ethics, (2) the ethical principles they engage, and (3) how ethics is approached contextually, theoretically and methodologically. Findings show broad yet uneven engagement: participant protection is prioritized, while ethical dimensions of research quality and societal relevance are underexplored. The discussion points to a conceptual imbalance and the need for clearer definitions, context-sensitive approaches, stronger theoretical grounding, and improved dialogue with ethics committees.