Faculty perceptions of student plagiarism and interventions to tackle it: a multiphase mixed-methods study in Qatar
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
Faculty perceptions of student plagiarism and interventions to tackle it: a multiphase mixed-methods study in Qatar Mai A. Mahmoud1,2* , Ziyad R. Mahfoud2,3, Ming-Jung Ho4 and John Shatzer5
Abstract Background: The widespread use of the internet and other digital resources has contributed to the escalation of plagiarism among medical students and students of other healthcare professions. Concerns were raised by faculty at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q), a branch of Weill Cornell Medicine of Cornell University in New York, who had been observing plagiarism in students’ assignments. Methods: To identify the extent of plagiarism practices and their contributing factors, a two-phase mixed-method research study was conducted, comprising a survey administered in 2013, followed by longitudinal interventions, and a second survey in 2017 to measure the impact of the interventions. Results: By Phase II, overall observed plagiarism incidents per year decreased from 44 to 28%, and the number of faculty who observed no plagiarism incidents increased significantly from 12 to 37%. The faculty concerned about student plagiarism decreased by 33% [53.1 to 20%] between Phase I and Phase II. Conclusion: When students are provided with information regarding what constitutes plagiarism and their institution’s policy in response to plagiarism incidents, they are less likely to engage in such practices. Keywords: Medical students, Plagiarism intervention, International learners, Academic integrity
Background Plagiarism among students in healthcare professions
The definition of plagiarism, according to MerriamWebster’s Learner’s Dictionary, is “the act of using the words or ideas of another person without giving credit to that person” [1]. Plagiarism has become a global problem in healthcare education, [2–5] escalated by the widespread use of the internet and other digital resources [2–4]. Donald McCabe, founder of the International Center for Academic Integrity, recognized these findings in his study of academic dishonesty within nursing schools, which found that the use of readily available electronic resources * Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, 1320 York Avenue, HT-621, New York, NY 10021, USA 2 Department of Medical Education, Weill Cornell Medicine, Doha, Qatar Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
contributed to the growing incidence of plagiarism among nursing students [5]. Another study surveying students and faculty at 62 dental schools in the US and Canada revealed serious violations of academic integrity (AI) and plagiarism in course assignments and cheating in exams [6]. Students often cited common practice among peers and a lack of serious consequences or policy implementation, as well as stress, time pressure, and higher expectations from faculty among the reasons for widespread plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty [5]. Outside North America, Nilston et al. studied scientific di
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