Academic integrity

• Bribery refers to the act of paying, offering, or attempting to provide an incentive in exchange for information or materials that could unfairly benefit the recipient during an assessment.
• Paying someone directly or asking someone to produce a piece of work on your behalf is also called contract cheating.
• Essay mills are sophisticated and manipulative in their attempts to attract students and can appear to be endorsed by the University, which they are not.

If you receive an email from a potential contract cheating provider, send it to academicintegrity@napier.ac.uk and we will review the email and consider whether to block the source.

Sadly, there are many cases of such services threatening to blackmail students, which can lead to significant academic, professional and personal consequences.

If you feel you have been made a victim of one of these services, please let us know as soon as possible via your Personal Development Tutor or Programme Leader, or seek support from ENSA Advice or our Keep on Track team.

Plagiarism is the academic word for copying. This includes incorporating the work of others without proper citation or reference. Examples include:

• Using another person's material without appropriate reference or acknowledgement
• Summarising someone else's work by changing a few words or altering the structure without citing the source (e.g. copying and pasting from published sources)
• Presenting another person's ideas as your own without acknowledging the original source
• Copying another student's work with or without their knowledge or consent

This even includes yourself! Self-plagiarism is refined as re-using work that has previously been marked and awarded credit. This includes copying or duplicating from any previously submitted written work at Edinburgh Napier or another institution, which is then resubmitted without due reference or citation and presented as original work.

Copying a friend's work is not just plagiarism, it's collusion. If a friend knowingly permits you to use their work, they are also committing malpractice and both the copier and the provider are likely to be penalised.

Collaboration v collusion - what is the difference?

As part of your studies, collaboration can be fine. Examples of collaboration include:

• revising with your friends
• discussing general themes and ideas from lectures and seminars
• helping people to find resources

Collusion, however, is when you share your work, firm ideas, plans and solutions with other people and they then submit the same work as you. For example, someone giving or copying homework, or someone asking in WhatsApp what answer someone else put to a question, and that person providing their answer.

Your peers can support you, and you can support them. However, your peers can't provide answers or work, and you must not take that work. Your peers can show you the way and you can head towards it, but you need to find the answer yourself.

Submitting results or data that is false or obtained through dishonest means is wrong. It can be frustrating if the results of the research you conduct don't go as planned, but this is not a reason to amend or invent data.

If the data does not fit the theory, something needs to change, and it is likely it isn't the data that needs to change. Remember that academic staff are here to support you with research and data collection - they would much rather you tell them about a problem you've encountered than find out the data has been made up.

Academic integrity also extends to the exam room. Some examples of breaches include:

• Having someone take an exam in your place
• Impersonating another student or allowing yourself to be impersonated
• Intentionally or unintentionally possessing unauthorised materials or devices
• Deliberately acquiring advanced knowledge of the detailed content of an assessment, or obtaining a copy of an 'unseen' exam paper in advance of the date and time for its authorised release
• Communicating with any person other than a properly authorised invigilator or another authorised member of staff
• Copying from another student during an examination or allowing another student to copy from you
• Possession of any printed, written or electronic material or unauthorised material, e.g. notes in your pocket, writing on your arms, a phone on your person during an exam, even if it wasn't used or doesn't contain information relevant to the subjects of the exam

You can breach academic integrity if you are found to have inappropriately used generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) content generation or writing assistance tools, such as a paraphrasing tool or website (e.g. ChatGPT, Quilbot) to gain an undue advantage in an assessment.

The extent to which any advantage has been gained will be determined at the academic integrity officer's discretion.

Find out more on our Artificial intelligence tools page.

Please ensure you familiarise yourself with the dangers of engaging with academic essay mills, also known as content writers or ghost writers. Essay mills are sophisticated and manipulative in their attempts to attract students and can appear to be endorsed by the University, which they are not.

Sadly, there are many cases of such services threatening to blackmail students, leading to significant academic, professional and personal consequences.

• If you feel you are already a victim, please let us know as soon as possible via your PDT or Programme Leader, or through seeking support from ENSA Advice or our Keep on Track team.
• Please use the support available to you through official University services such as Academic Skills, Disability and Inclusion, English for Academic Purposes, and Subject Librarians.

You should remember that using services such as essay mills, even where you think these will just enhance your own work, is against the University's academic regulations. If there is concern that you are presenting work that is not your own, you may be found guilty of academic misconduct. In serious cases, you may be permanently excluded from the University with the removal of credit. If academic misconduct is identified after you graduate, your award may be rescinded in line with our graduate integrity regulations.

If you receive an email from an unknown account offering services regarding academic dishonesty, please use the 'report message' button to report as spam and then delete the email. Do not click on any links as they may be a security risk.

Academic integrity means acting in a way that is honest, fair, respectful, responsible and courageous in your academic practice. These are values that are expected of both staff and students.

The academic integrity regulations are essential to maintaining the quality, credibility, and ethical standards of education and research and are updated each year to ensure that they remain current and meaningful.

If there is a concern that you may have breached the academic integrity regulations, the module team will make a referral to your School's academic integrity officer.

Your module leader/marker should inform you that a referral has be made and that an academic integrity officer will be in touch to let you know about next steps.

You will receive a letter from your School's academic integrity officer via email which you should read carefully. All the relevant information, available evidence, and area or areas of concern identified will be included in the officer's communication with you.

You will be advised of one of the following options:

1. You will be invited to comment on the allegation and the evidence provided. You can do this by replying to the email or writing a supporting statement. It is important that you complete your response within the specified time stipulated by the academic integrity officer.
2. You will be invited to attend a meeting to discuss the concerns. This is usually an online meeting, but a face-to-face meeting can be arranged if requested. This meeting is an opportunity for you to provide an explanation of what has happened and to address the concerns. The meeting is designed to be a supportive and inclusive process.

It is really important that you engage with this process and respond to any communication from an academic integrity officer or the module team.

You should consider contacting the Edinburgh Napier Students' Association, which offers a free, independent, impartial and confidential service for Edinburgh Napier University students.

Contact ENSA Advice:

• Email: ensa.advice@napier.ac.uk
• Website: napierstudents.com/advice

Alternatively, you may wish to contact your Personal Development Tutor (PDT).

Once all the evidence has been considered, including any written or verbal contributions, the academic integrity officer will write to you and let you know the outcome of the investigation. They will provide a brief explanation as to how they have reached that decision and the rationale for any penalty that is applied.

If you have attended a hearing, the academic integrity officer will let you know the outcome before concluding the meeting (when possible) and then confirm this in writing.

Academic integrity penalties can result in:

• an initial warning
• a mark reduction being applied to your work
• or you having to resubmit your work

Breaches of the academic integrity regulations can also result in relevant professional, statutory and regulatory bodies being advised - this is dependent on your programme of study.

If the allegation made is particularly serious or you have had previous academic integrity breaches, your case may be referred to a University Academic Integrity Panel.

The penalties given by University Academic Integrity Panel are more serious and may include removal from your programme.

If a breach of academic integrity is identified after you graduate, your award may be rescinded in line with our Graduate Academic Integrity Regulations.