SPECIAL ISSUE – MEFISTO

Mefisto is classified as a “Class A” journal in the Italian evaluation system. Further info: https://www.journal.edizioniets.eu/index.php/mefisto/about

Two CFPs are now active (see below).

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Autonomous Robotics in Medicine:
Philosophical and Ethical Perspectives

Guest editors:
Francesco Bianchini – University of Bologna – francesco.bianchini@unibo.it
Martina Bacaro – University of Bologna – martina.bacaro2@unibo.it
 
Overview: 
Autonomous robotics is increasingly being integrated into medicine and healthcare, from rehabilitation and patient assistance to psychiatry and neurodegenerative disease care. While much attention has been given to technical advancements, the epistemological, ethical, and philosophical implications of these developments remain underexplored. By bringing together interdisciplinary perspectives, this special issue of Mefisto – Journal of Medicine, Philosophy, and History will contribute to a deeper understanding of the implications of autonomous robotics in medicine and its impact on the future of healthcare.
 
Possible areas of inquiry include how the integration of autonomous robots in clinical practice might be reshaping traditional notions of medical expertise and decision-making, as well as the epistemic, ethical, and social consequences that may arise from delegating aspects of patient care to robotic systems. Contributions could explore how autonomous robots in medical and healthcare contexts challenge existing models of human-robot collaboration and consider which conceptual frameworks might help to better understand their role. Moreover, this issue seeks to encourage a critical assessment of the limitations of current robotic systems in medicine and to reflect on how their promises and risks can be evaluated from an ethical and philosophical perspective.
We welcome submissions addressing (but not limited to) the following questions:
 
Epistemology of Medical Robotics
How does autonomous robotics reshape medical knowledge and clinical decision-making?
In what ways do autonomous systems influence diagnostic reasoning and therapeutic interventions?
What kinds of biases and limitations emerge in data-driven models underlying autonomous medical robots?
 
Ethics and Normativity of Robotic Autonomy
How do autonomous robots affect patient trust and medical responsibility?
What ethical concerns arise from the use of AI-driven robotics in patient care?
How should technological efficiency be balanced with human-centered care and ethical considerations?

Autonomous Robotics and Medical Practice
How does the introduction of autonomous robots alter the organization of medical work and diagnostic frameworks?
What new forms of human–robot collaboration emerge in rehabilitation, psychiatry, and elderly care?
How do patients and healthcare professionals perceive and interact with autonomous robotic systems?
 
Humanoid/non-humanoid robotics in medicine
How can human–robot interaction impact medical practice?
Which robotic shapes and features are most useful in medical contexts?
Medicine and the uncanny valley problem

Specific applications and case studies
Autonomous robotics in motor and cognitive rehabilitation
Autonomous robots in psychiatric therapies
Assistive robotics and patient autonomy in neurodegenerative disease care
 
Timeline
Abstract submission: 15/02/2026
Notification of acceptance: by 28/02/2026
Full paper submission: 30/05/2026
Expected date of publication: December 2026
 
Submission Guidelines
Abstracts of up to 500 words (excluding references), clearly outlining the main argument and contribution of the proposed paper, should be submitted by 15 February 2026 to Francesco Bianchini (francesco.bianchini@unibo.it) and Martina Bacaro (martina.bacaro2@unibo.it). Authors will be notified by 28 February 2026 and invited to submit a full paper by 30 May 2026. All submissions will undergo peer review by the guest editors and anonymous reviewers.
 
Full papers should not exceed 8,000 words (excluding references) and must follow the journal’s guidelines: https://www.journal.edizioniets.eu/index.php/mefisto/Stylesheet . For full paper submission, authors must register on the journal’s website and submit their manuscript as “Focus” for this special issue: https://www.journal.edizioniets.eu/index.php/mefisto/about/submissions 

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Expertise by experience in medicine and psychiatry:
Promises and challenges

Guest editors:
Lisa Bortolotti (l.bortolotti@bham.ac.uk)
Elisabetta Lalumera (elisabetta.lalumera@unibo.it)

Overview: 
The recognition of “experts by experience”, people with lived experience of illness or of using healthcare services, has grown significantly in medicine, psychiatry, and mental health practice. Their perspectives are increasingly valued in clinical decision-making, service design, and policy-making. Philosophical work on epistemic injustice, situated knowledge, and the role of social identities in knowledge production has provided conceptual frameworks to examine these developments.

The involvement of experts by experience gives rise to genuinely philosophical questions emerging within medicine and psychiatry, while also enriching existing debates in the philosophy of medicine and psychiatry.

While lived experience can enrich knowledge practices and challenge established hierarchies, it can also risk tokenisation, moralisation, or marginalisation if not integrated thoughtfully.

In recent years, several issues have emerged in the literature:

• the epistemic authority of experiential knowledge in different medical and research settings (e.g., doctor–patient interactions, emergency care, or clinical research);
• whether appeals to lived experience reproduce, rather than dismantle, existing asymmetries of power;
• the adequacy of epistemic injustice as a framework to capture the contributions of experts by experience, compared with alternatives such as oppression, recognition, or care;
• ethical concerns of responsibility, vulnerability, tokenism, and exploitation in involving experts by experience;
• whether involving experts by experience in research requires broadening the kinds of evidence medicine recognises (e.g., first-person or subjective knowledge);
• problems of representation within groups of experts by experience, including conflicts of interest and the privileging of certain voices.

In this Focus section of Mefisto, guest-edited by Elisabetta Lalumera and Lisa Bortolotti, we gather contributions that explore the epistemic and ethical dimensions of experts by experience in medicine and psychiatry, their intersections with epistemic injustice, and the promise and limitations of centering lived experience in knowledge practices.

Deadline for submissions: 8 January 2027

The Special Issue is connected with the EPIC project. Website: https://sites.google.com/unife.it/progetto-epic/eventi/mefisto?authuser=0