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Academic Integrity: Home

Defining Academic Integrity


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"Academic Integrity is the courage to only submit academic work that is an honest, respectful, responsible, fair and trustworthy representation of your knowledge & abilities, even when tempted not to."
                                           International Center for Academic Integrity

The International Center for Academic Integrity defines
academic integrity as a commitment, even in the face of adversity,
to six fundamental values:
honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage.

 ❏  Learn More: What's your Academic Integrity Quotient?
                       A quiz on academic integrity by Turnitin

Integrity Matters Blog by ICAI

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Breach of Academic Integrity

  • Fabrication of Data
    The act of inventing data or results without actually measuring them or acquiring them through investigation.
    • Inserting arbitrary numbers to the published data despite the absence of measurement
    • Not measuring the control group and just assigning arbitrary numbers to the control group after the experiment
    • Entering similar numbers to retain statistical significance
    • Using data or images from other past research of their own or of others and presenting them as newly discovered data
  • Falsification of Data
    Manipulating research materials, equipment, or procedures, or changing or omitting data without reasonable justification such that the results are not accurately reflected.
    • Changing measured values on published data
    • Unjustified modifications to the data records in lab notes
    • Reporting fraudulent details of experimental procedures, materials, and figures in research proposals and articles
    • Dishonest presentation of the study content in an abstract for an academic presentation
  • Plagiarism
    Copying or paraphrasing the entire text or parts of others' work without giving appropriate credit.
    • Idea Plagiarism
      Using the opinion, research idea, method, or system of analysis, or the organization of the paper and its results without appropriate credit
    • Text Plagiarism
      • Duplication
      • Inappropriate paraphrasing/summarizing
      • Inappropriate passage citations
      • Comprehensive citation
      • Plagiarism of data
  • Self-Plagiarism (Text Recycling)
    Reuse of a small portion of one's own published research in a new article or book.
  • Redundant Publication (Duplicate Publication)
    Publication of an article that is similar or identical to one's previously published works.

  ❏  Learn More: Research Misconduct and Inappropriate Research Practices
                        in the Manual for Research and Publication Ethics in Science and Engineering

  • Collusion
    Inappropriate collaboration or assistance between students in relation to assessment tasks.
    • Copying another student's work with the other student's permission
    • Paying someone to write an assignment
    • Students sharing information in a test or exam
    • Students writing an assignment together and each submitting exactly the same assignment as their own individual work
    • Allowing a student who has not contributed to an assignment to include their name as a contributor
    • A student organizing for another student to sit their exam

  ❏  Learn More: Breaches of Academic Integrity Using Collusion by Sue McGowan
                        from the Handbook of Academic Integrity edited by Tracey Bretag