Objective:

This work aims to analyze failures in scientific integrity on the part of Latin American research personnel.

Methodology:

anonymous and voluntary questionnaires were carried out after dealing with this topic in 121 scientific writing courses/thesis workshops in Latin America, mainly in Argentina, for 20 years (2001-2020).

Results:

The 2064 valid responses showed that 60% had five or more years of graduation, 48.6% indicated improper co-authorship, and 28.9% that their name was omitted from publications. 24.9% acknowledged having omitted their name from publications. Some 24.9% acknowledged having committed some misconduct in their career. The coercion to which he was subjected to do so was recognized by 56.7%. 60.7 % of the 512 people were unaware that it was a mistake. Misconduct was the most frequent misconduct (46 %), followed by plagiarism and misrepresentation of data. In first-hand accounts, salami publication, data duplication, theft, bribery, and image manipulation stand out. None of the persons who took previous bioethics training courses (0/560) committed inappropriate acts of their own accord.

Conclusion:

scientific personnel commits a relatively high percentage of scientific integrity failures; providing scientific integrity courses has a decisive role in self-monitoring to avoid them.