Introduction:

The COVID-19 pandemic, the result of the emergency of the new SARS-CoV-2, tends to collapse the national health systems in different countries, determining an imbalance between health care needs and the effective availability of human and material resources. This situation leads to an increase in the number and variety of scientific investigations.

Objective:

Reflect on the importance of ethical monitoring of scientific research and the actions of health systems in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Development:

It reflects on the importance of designing and implementing quality interventions that prevent, control and eradicate health problems and defines what, in the opinion of the authors, is a country's investigative capacity and its integration with government structures. Elements are exposed in relation to the principles and objectives of clinical research, its supervision and the monitoring of communication and epidemiological surveillance actions in times of pandemic.

Conclusions:

The authors conclude that conducting research to optimize health care for individuals and communities affected by the new SARS-CoV-2 and thereby reduce the negative impact of the pandemic is essential. However, the necessary ethical monitoring of the research processes and implementation of the results to humanize and improve them is of equal importance, especially in times of open science and questions related to the reliability of research.