Academic Integrity
What is Academic Integrity? Why is it Important?
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity has been defined as “a commitment to six fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage” (International Centre for Academic Integrity, 2021, p. 4). Academic integrity is essential to achieving an equitable and accountable learning and research environment. It calls for the courage and strength to adhere to upright moral values, even in the face of adversity.
Maintaining academic integrity requires truth and honesty, and at times courage, and hard work. However, in return it enables and enhances your development not only as a scholar, but as a person, a member of the University community, a potential employee, and a member of society. Maintaining academic integrity allows both you and your professors to see the extent of the knowledge you have gained through your studies and hard work. It also advocates that no student is placed at an unfair disadvantage because of another’s dishonest behaviour. In this way academic integrity safeguards the reputation of the University, perceptions of graduates’ learning, and thus the value of your academic qualification.
Honesty
You demonstrate honesty as a value when you do your own work and truthfully acknowledge the work of others.
Trust
You build trust in your academic community by consistently being honest about your work. When people trust you, they can rely on the quality and authenticity of your work.
Fairness
You demonstrate fairness by being objective, treating people with respect and equity, doing your own work, and acknowledging the work of others. This has effects long after you graduate: your academic integrity helps to support the value of other University of Galway degrees, as well as, of course, that of your own degree.
Respect
You show respect when you work within assigned boundaries, credit others for their ideas, and make your best effort.
Responsibility
You show responsible behaviour when you ask questions, resist negative peer pressure, lead by example, and discourage others from violating academic principles. Being responsible means being accountable to yourself and to others while doing your work to the best of your own abilities.
Courage
Upholding these standards for academic integrity requires courage to resist pressure from others or the “easy way out” for yourself — and to speak up against wrongdoing.
Adapted from the ICAI definition of academic integrity (ICAI 2021) and (Caswell et al. 2022) Academic Integrity at Mount Saint Vincent University The latter resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial–ShareAlike 4.0 licence.
University of Galway Students Chat About What Academic Integrity Means to Them.
Click here to watch the video “What is Academic Integrity” featuring University of Galway students.
Academic Misconduct
Breaches in academic integrity are called academic misconduct. This often involves a student submitting work that is not their own, in whole or part, and can include: plagiarism, unauthorised use of generative artificial intelligence, contract cheating, collusion, reuse of previously assessed work, cheating in examinations, and aiding other students’ cheating. The University of Galway Academic Integrity Policy highlights various types of unethical activities all of which constitute academic misconduct (pp.1-2). Other examples of academic misconduct, some of which are facilitated by recent technological developments, are outlined in The Plagiarism Spectrum 2.0 (© Turnitin 2023).
It is important to recognise that the vast majority of students do not set out on their academic path with the intention of being unethical. The website of the University of Galway Academic Integrity Office includes a section on resources that may be particularly useful if you are finding your studies difficult and would benefit from some support. These resources allow students receive support in an ethical manner and thereby avoid the risk of academic misconduct. There are also many services and resources offered by the Library that will help you maintain good academic integrity.
Continue to the next page to learn more about some of these resources and how to access them.
Academic Integrity is in Everyone’s Interest!
