ArticleSociology of health & illness2019
The datafication of reproduction: time-lapse embryo imaging and the commercialisation of IVF.
Article in Sociology of health & illness, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- Two sides of the same algorithm: a qualitative study of ART professionals' and patients' views on the use of machine learning for embryo assessment and selection.Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics · 2026Article
- Algorithmic Choreography: Redefining Human and Non-Human Relations in Digital Health.Sociology of health & illness · 2026Article
- Commercial Impacts on Assisted Reproductive Technology: A Scoping Review.Journal of bioethical inquiry · 2026Article
- Accounting for complexity in healthcare innovation debates: Professional views on the use of new IVF treatments.Health (London, England : 1997) · 2023Article
- Predicting Success in the Embryology Lab: The Use of Algorithmic Technologies in Knowledge Production.Science, technology & human values · 2023Article
- Digital health: A sociomaterial approach.Sociology of health & illness · 2023Article
- When craft kicks back: Embryo culture as knowledge production in the context of the transnational fertility industry.Social studies of science · 2022Article
- Disrupting the biological clock: Fertility benefits, egg freezing and proactive fertility management.Reproductive biomedicine & society online · 2022Article
- The crafting of hope: Contextualising add-ons in the treatment trajectories of IVF patients.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2021Article
- The prevalence, promotion and pricing of three IVF add-ons on fertility clinic websites.Reproductive biomedicine online · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
Abstract
The 21st century has witnessed the emergence of in silico reproduction alongside the familiar in vitro reproduction (e.g. IVF), as increasingly large and automatically-generated data sets have come to play an instrumental role in assisted reproduction. The article addresses this datafication of reproduction by analysing time-lapse embryo imaging, a key data-driven technology for embryo selection in IVF cycles. It discusses the new forms of knowledge and value creation enabled by data-driven embryo selection and positions this technology as a harbinger of a wider datafication of (reproductive) health. By analysing the new ways of seeing embryos with 'in silico vision,' the 'data generativity' of developing embryos and the patenting of embryo selection algorithms, I argue that this datafied method of embryo selection may not just result in more or less 'IVF success,' but also affects the conceptualisation and commercialisation of the assisted reproductive process. In doing so, I highlight how the datafication of reproduction both reflects and reinforces a consolidating trend in the fertility sector-characterised by mergers resulting in larger fertility chains, online platforms organising fertility care and expanded portfolios of companies aiming to cover each step of the IVF cycle.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.