Detecting and punishing violations of research integrity requires first having to prove them. However, establishing proof of research misconduct presents a number of challenges. Firstly, it has to be conducted in a variety of contexts, including before research integrity officers, university disciplinary committees, civil courts, criminal courts,…

Very few parts of the world have legislation that prohibits the operation or the promotion of contract cheating services. This means that commercial companies providing such services can formally register and operate in most countries. If a student enters into an agreement with a contract cheating provider, what rights do they have to change their…

Contract cheating happens when students commission someone else to do assessed work for them. While it is already illegal in 18 jurisdictions, others are considering making the provision of contract cheating services illegal. To date, legal approaches to addressing contract cheating have faced little scrutiny in the peer reviewed literature. This…

Purpose: The purpose of this report is to provide background information to develop deeper awareness about contract cheating in Canada and generate conversations about possible legislative approaches to address this growing problem. Methods: A qualitative legal analysis of legislation from the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, and US (17…

The phenomenon of contract cheating presents, potentially, a serious threat to the quality and standards of Higher Education around the world. There have been suggestions, cited below, to tackle the problem using legal means, but we find that current laws are not fit for this purpose. In this article we present a proposal for a specific new law to…

Background/purpose: ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence program released in November 2022, but even now, many studies have expressed excitement or concern about its introduction into academia and education. While there are many questions to be asked, the current study reviews the literature in order to reveal the potential effects of ChatGPT on…

The manual is presented in the form of a policy grid. The grid includes a consolidated list of General Educational Development (GED) Testing Service policies regarding the GED® test and overall GED® program. The grid combines all of the policies into one unified table and supersedes any prior policy manual.

A growing number of states and local schools across the country have adopted educator evaluation and accountability programs based on the use of student test scores and value-added models (VAM). A wide array of potential legal issues could arise from the implementation of these programs. This article uses legal analysis and social science evidence…

2010 sees the end of the process of establishing the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Although not all countries may have achieved all the objectives, many are those countries and universities who have implemented many of the targets set. Within the Bologna Process, there have been many developments such as: European Credit Transfer and…

Irregularities have surfaced in the state's community college system involving inflated enrollment figures, altered student transcripts, and other illegal tactics designed to improve shaky institutional reputations and increase the intake of state subsidies. (Author/LBH)

An editorial and condensed account of hearings and recommendations of the U.S. House of Representatives concerning "diploma mills" and mail-order degrees and credentials is given. (MSE)

A well-established market in prewritten research papers violates the ethical standards of every college, but it persists because selling papers is not illegal and the cost and difficulty of prosecuting a student suspected of submitting a purchased paper is prohibitive. (MSE)

Since its creation in 1992, the Public Health Service's Office of Research Integrity has not won a single case against a scientist accused of research misconduct. Cases are adjudicated by a panel of lawyers. Scientists and critics agree that the government's failure will have serious consequences for the research community. (MSE)

The problems of cheating on tests and what to do about it are explored, beginning with information on the methods used to cheat. Methods to detect cheating, circumstances that promote cheating, and ways to respond at the individual and institutional levels are outlined. The chapters are: (1) "An Introduction to Cheating: The Wrong and the Short of…

A University of Virginia student has successfully challenged his expulsion, which was based on an accusation of cheating on a test. The student claimed his initial trial was unfair and that he was poorly represented. Some feel the university's honor system has been compromised. (MSE)