Title: The language of race, ethnicity, and ancestry in human genetic research Show Chinese title

Title: 种族、族裔和祖先在人类遗传研究中的语言

Abstract: The language commonly used in human genetics can inadvertently pose problems for multiple reasons. Terms like "ancestry", "ethnicity", and other ways of grouping people can have complex, often poorly understood, or multiple meanings within the various fields of genetics, between different domains of biological sciences and medicine, and between scientists and the general public. Furthermore, some categories in frequently used datasets carry scientifically misleading, outmoded or even racist perspectives derived from the history of science. Here, we discuss examples of problematic lexicon in genetics, and how commonly used statistical practices to control for the non-genetic environment may exacerbate difficulties in our terminology, and therefore understanding. Our intention is to stimulate a much-needed discussion about the language of genetics, to begin a process to clarify existing terminology, and in some cases adopt a new lexicon that both serves scientific insight, and cuts us loose from various aspects of a pernicious past. Show Chinese abstract

Abstract: 人类遗传学中常用的语言可能会出于多种原因无意中引发问题。 诸如“祖先”、“种族”以及其他对人群进行分组的方式在遗传学的不同领域、生物科学和医学的不同学科之间，以及科学家与普通公众之间可能具有复杂、常常不被充分理解或多重的含义。 此外，一些常用数据集中的类别可能承载着从科学历史中衍生出的科学上具有误导性、过时甚至种族主义的观点。 在此，我们讨论遗传学中存在争议的词汇示例，以及常用统计方法在控制非遗传环境因素时可能加剧我们在术语上的困难，从而影响我们的理解。 我们的目的是激发关于遗传学语言的必要讨论，开始一个澄清现有术语的过程，并在某些情况下采用一种既能服务于科学洞察力，又能使我们摆脱有害过去各种方面的新型词汇。