Skip to main content

Academic Integrity in Higher Education: Understanding and Addressing Plagiarism

Author(s): Robert Mulenga 1 , Helvi Shilongo 2
Author(s) information:
1 School of Education, University of Zambia, P.O Box 32379, Lusaka, Zambia
2 Faculty of Education and Human Sciences, University of Namibia, Khomasdal Campus, Windhoek, Namibia

Corresponding author

This article delves into the profound implications of plagiarism, extending beyond its role as an academic transgression to challenge the foundational principles of truth, originality, and integrity upon which the academic world is built. Plagiarism's extensive consequences ripple through students, educators, and educational institutions, posing a substantial threat to the integrity of the educational system. The primary aim of this study is to comprehensively address the complexities of plagiarism in higher education, emphasizing the need for effective strategies to safeguard and promote academic integrity. Academic institutions, designed to cultivate knowledge and character development, confront the unsettling presence of plagiarism, necessitating an in-depth exploration of its multifaceted causes and motivations for meaningful mitigation. The study identifies academic pressure, time constraints, lack of knowledge about citation rules, and the digital age as significant contributors to the prevalence of plagiarism. It underscores the far-reaching consequences of this issue and highlights the pivotal role of prevention and detection strategies, notably plagiarism detection software such as Turnitin, Grammarly, and Copyscape, in the ongoing battle to preserve academic honesty and the sanctity of scholarly work.

Ansorge, L.; Ansorgeová, K.; Sixsmith, M. (2021). Plagiarism through Paraphrasing Tools—The Story of One Plagiarized Text. Publications , 9, 48. https://doi.org/10.3390/publications9040048.

Malik, M.A.; Mahroof, A.; Ashraf, M.A. (2021). Online University Students’ Perceptions on the Awareness of, Reasons for, and Solutions to Plagiarism in Higher Education: The Development of the AS&P Model to Combat Plagiarism. Applied Science, 11, 12055. https://doi.org/10.3390/app112412055.

Sorea, D.; Roșculeț, G.; Bolborici, A.-M. (2021). Readymade Solutions and Students’ Appetite for Plagiarism as Challenges for Online Learning. Sustainability, 13, 3861. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13073861.

Jambi, K.M.; Khan, I.H.; Siddiqui, M.A. (2022). Evaluation of Different Plagiarism Detection Methods: A Fuzzy MCDM Perspective. Applied Science, 12, 4580. https://doi.org/10.3390/app12094580.

Alruwais, N.; Zakariah, M. (2023). Evaluating Student Knowledge Assessment Using Machine Learning Techniques. Sustainability, 15, 6229. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15076229.

Roos, N. A (2019). Matter of Responsible Management from Higher Education Institutions. Sustainability, 11, 6502. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11226502.

Pedro, E.d.M.; Leitão, J.; Alves, H. (2020). Bridging Intellectual Capital, Sustainable Development and Quality of Life in Higher Education Institutions. Sustainability, 12, 479. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12020479.

Djokovic, R.; Janinovic, J.; Pekovic, S.; Vuckovic, D.; Blecic, M. (2022). Relying on Technology for Countering Academic Dishonesty: The Impact of Online Tutorial on Students’ Perception of Academic Misconduct. Sustainability, 14, 1756. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031756.

Lee, G.; Kim, J.; Choi, M.-S.; Jang, R.-Y.; Lee, R. (2023). Review of Code Similarity and Plagiarism Detection Research Studies. Applied Science, 13, 11358. https://doi.org/10.3390/app132011358.

Issrani, R.; Alduraywish, A.; Prabhu, N.; Alam, M.K.; Basri, R.; Aljohani, F.M.; Alolait, M.A.A.; Alghamdi, A.Y.A.; Alfawzan, M.M.N.; Alruwili, A.H.M. (2021). Knowledge and Attitude of Saudi Students towards Plagiarism—A Cross-Sectional Survey Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18, 12303. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182312303.

Ramos, R.; Gonçalves, J.; Gonçalves, S.P. (2020). The Unbearable Lightness of Academic Fraud: Portuguese Higher Education Students’ Perceptions. Educational Science, 10, 351. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10120351.

Dávila Morán, R.C. (2022). The Perception of Academic Plagiarism in Industrial Engineering Students at a Public University in Lima. Publications, 10, 41. https://doi.org/10.3390/publications10040041.

Carter, H.; Hussey, J.; Forehand, J.W. (2019). Plagiarism in nursing education and the ethical implications in practice. Heliyon,5, e01350. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e01350.

Gasparyan, A.Y.; Nurmashev, B.; Seksenbayev, B.; Trukhachev, V.I., Kostyukova, E.I.;, Kitas, G.D. (2017). Plagiarism in the Context of Education and Evolving Detection Strategies. Journal of Korean Medicinal Science, 32, 1220‒1227. https://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2017.32.8.1220.

Saeed, S.; Aamir, R.; Ramzan, M. (2011). Plagiarism and its implications on higher education in developing countries. International Journal of Teaching and Case Studies, 3, 123‒130. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJTCS.2011.039552.

Bretag T. (2013). Challenges in addressing plagiarism in education. PLoS Medicine, 10, e1001574. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001574.

Babelghaith, S.D.; Wajid, S.; Al-Arifi, M.; Alotaibi, A.N. (2022). Exploring the Attitudes of Pharmacy Students in Saudi Arabia towards Plagiarism Evidence from a Cross-Sectional Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19, 14811. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192214811.

Penders, B. (2018). Beyond Trust: Plagiarism and Truth. Bioethical Inquiry, 15, 29–32. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-017-9825-6.

Berlinck, R. (2011). The academic plagiarism and its punishments - a review. Revista Brasileira de Farmacognosia, 21, 365-372. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0102-695X2011005000099.

Brown, N.; Janssen, R. (2017). Preventing Plagiarism and Fostering Academic Integrity: A Practical Approach. Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice. 5, 102‒109. https://doi.org/10.14297/jpaap.v5i3.245.

Martínez-López, J.I.; Barrón-González, S.; Martínez López, A. (2019). Which Are the Tools Available for Scholars? A Review of Assisting Software for Authors during Peer Reviewing Process. Publications, 7, 59. https://doi.org/10.3390/publications7030059.

Lo, C.K. (2023). What Is the Impact of ChatGPT on Education? A Rapid Review of the Literature. Educational Science, 13, 410. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13040410.

Perkins, M.; Gezgin, U.B.; Roe, J. (2020). Reducing plagiarism through academic misconduct education. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 16, 3. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-020-00052-8.

Foltýnek, T.; Dlabolová, D.; Anohina-Naumeca, A. et al. (2020). Testing of support tools for plagiarism detection. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 17, 46. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-020-00192-4.

von Isenburg, M.; Oermann, M.H.; Howard, V. (2019), Plagiarism Detection Software and Its Appropriate Use. Nurse Author & Editor, 29, 1‒10. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-4910.2019.tb00034.x.

Piascik P, Brazeau GA. (2010). Promoting a culture of academic integrity. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education,74, 113. https://doi.org/10.5688/aj7406113.

Çelik, Ö.; Razi, S. (2023). Facilitators and barriers to creating a culture of academic integrity at secondary schools: an exploratory case study. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 19, 4. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-023-00125-4.

Arabyat, R.M.; Qawasmeh, B.R.; Al-Azzam, S.I.; Nusair, M.B.; Alzoubi, K.H. (2022). Faculty Members' Perceptions and Attitudes Towards Anti-Plagiarism Detection Tools: Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, 17, 275‒283. https://doi.org/10.1177/15562646221078655.

Hamilton, M.; Wolsky, K. (2022). The Barriers to Faculty Reporting Incidences of Academic Misconduct at Community Colleges. In Academic Integrity in Canada. Ethics and Integrity in Educational Contexts; Eaton, S.E., Christensen Hughes, J., Eds.; Springer: Cham, Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83255-1_24.

Elkhatat, A.M.; Elsaid, K.; Almeer, S. (2023). Evaluating the efficacy of AI content detection tools in differentiating between human and AI-generated text. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 19, 17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-023-00140-5.

Habib, G.; Sharma, S.; Ibrahim, S.; Ahmad, I.; Qureshi, S.; Ishfaq, M. (2022). Blockchain Technology: Benefits, Challenges, Applications, and Integration of Blockchain Technology with Cloud Computing. Future Internet, 14, 341. https://doi.org/10.3390/fi14110341.

Silvestru, C.-I.; Firulescu, A.-C.; Iordoc, D.-G.; Icociu, V.-C.; Stoica, M.-A.; Platon, O.-E.; Orzan, A.-O. (2022). Smart Academic and Professional Education. Sustainability, 14, 6408. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14116408.

Hourrane, O.; Benlahmar, E.H. (2017). Survey of Plagiarism Detection Approaches and Big data Techniques related to Plagiarism Candidate Retrieval. Proceedings of the 2nd international Conference on Big Data, Cloud and Applications, 1‒6. https://doi.org/10.1145/3090354.3090369.

Rampelotto, P.H. (2023). A Critical Assessment of the Peer Review Process in Life: From Submission to Final Decision. Life, 13, 1603. https://doi.org/10.3390/life13071603.

About this article

SUBMITTED: 23 October 2023
ACCEPTED: 06 December 2023
PUBLISHED: 2 January 2024
SUBMITTED to ACCEPTED: 44 days
DOI: https://doi.org/10.53623/apga.v3i1.337

Cite this article
Mulenga, R., & Shilongo, H. . (2024). Academic Integrity in Higher Education: Understanding and Addressing Plagiarism. Acta Pedagogia Asiana, 3(1), 30‒43. https://doi.org/10.53623/apga.v3i1.337
Keywords
Accessed
5844
Citations
0
Share this article