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SIRIS Academic report shows that dozens of the world’s most highly cited researchers have changed their primary affiliations to Saudi universities instead of their employer, despite often being only guest researchers or research fellows. This misleading affiliation has boosted the standing of these higher education institutions in university global ranking tables that consider the citation impacts of an institution’s researchers.

According to a survey conducted by Education Sub-Saharan Africa (ESSA), most universities in East Africa struggled to uphold the integrity of examinations that were administered online during the COVID-19 pandemic. The lead investigator at ESSA reports that students used materials prohibited during the examinations or breached university examination policies. Uganda and Kenya had the highest number of universities that struggled, at 31% and 27%, respectively.

Bias in research and its benefits, power imbalances and other inequities has long plagued scientific collaboration. “Unfairness, inequity and a lack of diversity must no longer prevent the global research enterprise from maximizing scientific integrity and realizing the ultimate societal value and benefits of research”, write ethics experts in the Cape Town Statement on Fostering Research Integrity through Fairness and Equity. The statement includes 20 recommendations to guide all stakeholders in achieving more just research practice.

Ethical bodies in Sub-Saharan Africa face challenges in their capacity to perform their work due to a lack of ICT resources and academic training in ethics and regulatory affairs. €1.5 million (about US$1.62 million) has been granted to Benin, the Gambia, and Ivory Coast to install the Research for Health and Innovation Organiser software, a cloud-based platform that could make the work of such bodies more efficient while enabling them to improve ethical conduct and research integrity, review processes, build capacities in oversight and monitoring.

A recently published survey study of PhD students in Denmark reveals that an ethically questionable culture for assigning authorships to research papers is widespread within the medical and natural sciences across Europe. 49% of the PhD students in medical sciences had granted guest authorship to a person in power while 42% were in the natural and technical sciences.

According to an expert the housing crisis, cost-of-living pressures, language barriers, and lack of time and support from universities are prompting students in Australia to turn to contract cheating. His research found about 10% of students submit assignments written by someone else, and more than 95% of them are not caught. He also found those with English as a second or subsequent language are three times more likely to employ ghostwriters.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has arrested 59 staff of public and private universities between 2017 and 2022 for bribery, abuse of power, false claims and other financial offences. One of the cases involved a director of a public university recently, allegedly receiving a car as an inducement to help a company obtain a tender worth about RM1.6 million, while a university professor was also arrested over alleged false claims involving a research fund of RM66,000.