Abstract:

Scientific dishonesty can erode society's trust in science and scientists, in addition to causing other harm. The studies on prevalence on this topic are divergent, although there seems to be a consensus on the fact of being conservative when dimensioning the phenomenon (Hofmann et al., 2013, 2015). Trust in science and scholarship must be a priority for all nations and institutions and to avoid dishonest behavior, we need to know more about integrity in research (European Science Foundation, 2010). These studies can provide valuable data for making evidence-based policy decisions that promote responsible research practices.
This study is part of a systematic review of the literature on academic integrity. The objective of this work was to analyze the main characteristics and results of the existing body of literature on the perception, attitudes and knowledge of post-graduate students about integrity in research. Nine studies published in journals were analyzed. The analysis carried out indicated that in all the studies a quantitate paradigm was adopted as information was collected through a questionnaire and that five studies focused exclusively on Medicine post-graduate-students.

The results of the reviewed studies indicate that the participants declared that they knew of the existence of dishonest practices in the research, that they had felt pressured to commit them sometimes, that they were unaware of the policies on academic integrity in the institution where they were studying, that a significant minority considered acceptable some sort of research misconduct and considered that the dishonest behaviors they did depend on the circumstances. They highlighted the importance of developing academic integrity policies, training programs and modeling approaches to face the situation. This review confirms the small number of research focused on research integrity among post-graduate students and the need to increase the evidences in this area in order it to adopt policy decisions that promote good research practices.

Acknowledgement
This paper is an outcome of the project "Academic integrity amongst postgraduate students: empirical approach and intervention proposals" (Reference: RTI2018-098314-B-I00) is funded and supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCI), the National Research Agency (AEI) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

References:
[1] European Science Foundation (2010). Fostering research integrity in Europe. European Science Foundation. /www.esf.org/fileadmin/user_upload/esf/ResearchIntegrity_Report2011.pdf
[2] Hofmann, B., Helgesson, G., Juth, N., and Holm, S.(2015). Scientific dishonesty: A survey of doctoral students at the major medical faculties in Sweden and Norway. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, 10(4), 380-388. https://doi.org/10.1177/1556264615599686
[3] Hofmann, B., Myhr, A.I. and Holm, S. (2013). Scientific dishonesty - A nationwide survey of doctoral students in Norway. BMC Medical Ethics, 14(1), art. no. 3. https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6939-14-3

Keywords:

Scientific integrity, research, post-graduate, higher education, academic ethics.