In this research, compliance with ethical research standards was reviewed in 41 Master's theses in Biology prepared at the Autonomous University of Chiriquí (Panama) from 2002 to 2018. The measurement instrument was a checklist of 8 criteria, based on principles ethics of research established in current national and international ethical standards. The theses studied were ethically deficient overall with 24.3 % compliance with ethical research standards. None of the eight criteria evaluatedreached the level of ethically "excellent". Considering the study subjects, 32.7 % of the theses made on human subjects presented good compliance with ethical standards; while the theses made in non human subjects (23.3 %) were deficient. The best evaluated criteria in theses made using human subjects were: "scientific validity" (79.1 %), "social value": (56.2 %), "fair selection of participating subjects" (53.1 %) and " review of informed consent (48.7 %); the worst evaluated were: "author's commitments" (28.9 %), "respect for the participants" (16.2 %), "favorable risk-benefit balance" (16.2 % and "independent review" (10, 4 %). The best evaluated criteria in theses made using non-human subjects were: "scientific validity" (75.4 %), "social value": (45.4 %), "fair selection of participating subjects" (40, 5 %); while the worst evaluated were: "author's commitments" (27.2 %), "favorable risk-benefit balance" (22.2 %), "independent review" (11.9 %), "respect participants" (2.7 %) and "review of informed consent" (1.3 %). The lack of an institutional research ethics committee and the non-obligation to submit Master's theses in Biology to ethical standards; affects the level of compliance with ethical standards in the theses studied.