Exploring Open Science and Research Ethics in the Basic Sciences: Findings from a Qualitative Study

New forms of questionable research practices (QRP) and even scientific misconduct practices are emerging in an open science environment. This work documents this transformation in three very different countries, Brazil, France, and Peru, using semi-structured interviews with researchers working in basic sciences: Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. The significant findings are that the hierarchical structure of academia contributes to the spread of research misconduct, and QRP and open science practices can potentially serve as effective tools for preventing and detecting these issues; however, it is the hierarchical structure of academia which undermines its effectivity as behaviours hiding misconducts go unnoticed. The main conclusion is that power relations between different actors in academia are still very present despite the countries' different ethical norms and the researchers' open science practices. The main recommendation is to work on aligning open science policies and policies on ethics and QRPs.