The Peruvian government has passed a law, approved by Congress in June, that regulates the country’s National Science, Technology, and Innovation System (SINACTI) and establishes sanctions for researchers who commit misconduct: depending on the severity, cases of misconduct may result in fines and temporary or even permanent suspensions from the national registry, which allows them to work in scientific institutions in the country. According to an official statement, the new legislation is “part of the government’s effort to foster scientific and technological development in Peru.”
Examples of minor infractions include publishing the same research results in more than one academic journal or book, failing to declare personal, institutional, or financial conflicts of interest, missing reporting deadlines on uses of funding, or abusing one’s power or authority during the course of a research project. The established punishment for such cases would be a two-year suspension from SINACTI, during which time scientists would be unable to access promotions at research institutions and public funding from agencies such as the National Council for Science, Technology, and Innovation (CONCYTEC) and the National Program for Scientific Research and Advanced Studies (Prociencia).
The list of serious infractions includes plagiarism, data fabrication, and the use of false information or attribution of authorship to people who did not contribute to a research project or any related patents. In these situations, researchers can be suspended from SINACTI for up to five years and fined up to 494,400 Peruvian soles, the equivalent of US$130,000. For very serious offenses, such as buying or selling authorship or diverting public funds, the potential punishments are even greater. Sanctions include permanent expulsion from SINACTI and fines of up to 1.65 million soles (US$440,000). Suspicions of misconduct will be investigated through administrative processes initiated by CONCYTEC, in which scientists will have the right to a full defense. In the coming months, Peruvian Congress will debate another bill that proposes criminal sanctions — including prison sentences — for scientific misconduct.
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