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A recent 2021 study shows that academics from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries accounted for 17 of the top 20 countries where academics publish in predatory journals. The OIC’s share of global publications has increased to over 8% in 2018. Standards have been compromised in relation to the impact of the number of published papers and citations on staffing, promotions, careers, and benefits.

There have been reports of students in Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Bombay, IIT-Kharagpur, and IIT-Ropar using WhatsApp groups to share solutions to questions, and using breaks to call their peers during the examinations. A professor reports that 95% of students cheat. To prevent it, the Ministry of Education has established a committee to develop a common protocol for online internal examinations, and universities are considering the introduction of a code of honour.

In the three months before March 15, the company ProctorU, which monitors tests remotely, confirmed cheating in 2,547 cases. In the three months after, when the pandemic triggered campuses across the US to move online, ProctorU verified 57,597 cheating incidents. Ethicists say that students Googling answers on tests have an unfair advantage over students who do not. This same behaviour by medical students or apprentice pilots has consequences that are even more serious, as it places others in jeopardy.

The Josephson Institute, which conducts a survey of high school students every two years, reports that while 50% of students admit cheating, 93% are "satisfied with their own ethics and character". A professor at Rutgers University also suggests that half of their students cheat at least once a year. To demonstrate a united global front against cheating, Member institutions from the International Centre for Academic Integrity participate in the 5th annual Day of Action Against Contractual Cheating.

There have been several cases of ethical violations in India in recent years. A well-known newspaper reported that a series of articles belonging to prestigious research institutions have been published by Indian scientists. They were flagged on a research discussion platform for including images that had been altered and copied from other sources. However, some improvement in ethics has been noted. The government's Chief Scientific Adviser issued the Draft National University Ethics Policy in July 2019, which addresses issues such as plagiarism, data manipulation, and harassment. In December 2019, the UGC made a two-credit course on ethics mandatory as part of undergraduate courses in India.