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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.

A recent study made some alarming findings on the extent of plagiarism and other forms of unethical academic behaviour at Moroccan tertiary education institutions. About half of the respondents admitted to having plagiarised text; however, the study confirms that plagiarism is not always intentional, particularly among scholars whose native language is not English. One way to reduce plagiarism is to provide training on research integrity as well as on business ethics.

In a national survey on research integrity by Dutch academics, 40,000 researchers, from PhD students to full professors, admitted to committing at least one of the 11 questionable research practices. One in 12 researchers is estimated to have fabricated or falsified research results in the last three years. According to a postdoctoral researcher and lead investigator of the survey, findings are already being discussed with policymakers in universities and medical centres in the Netherlands.

When a doctoral student denounced the theft of her work, she was told that it was part of the game. One in five PhD students in the academic world is facing this practice. According to an online survey conducted among 1,800 PhD students and young doctors, 21% of respondents said they had seen someone else take credit for their work. Concerned about the impact on their future careers, many PhD students choose to remain silent on such abuse.

To promote their academic position and for other financial benefits, many teachers including university professors, submit their thesis papers based on plagiarism. Last January, three professors at Dhaka University were dismissed following accusations of plagiarism in their research work. In the last five years at least 10 teachers of the same institution have also been accused of plagiarism or violation of copyright rules in their research works.

A research team from the Canadian University of Dubai has identified a new approach to combating academic integrity using machine learning techniques. The new method applies an algorithm to identify cases of cheating through post-exam analysis of student grades from quizzes, midterm exams, and the final exam of an entire class. This technique can complement the work of commercial plagiarism detection software and provide a deterrent and non-intrusive alternative to remotely proctored exams.

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.

The thesis of the former German minister for family affairs was found to contain nearly 70 passages violating good academic practice. The Free University of Berlin required the minister to return the PhD certificate within one month after notification of the withdrawal of the degree, acquired through “deceit regarding independent academic achievement”.