Attitudes of Graduate Students at King Saud University towards Digital Academic Integrity

Abstract

The goal of this research is to identify the perceptions of graduate students towards digital scientific integrity and digital plagiarism. This study adopted qualitative research where interviews and focus groups were conducted to collect rich data from female graduate students of the college of Education at King Saud University in Riyadh during the academic year 2012/2013. The findings show graduate students' perceptions of the concept of digital scientific integrity. Some of the reasons of digital plagiarism from graduate students' point of view were also identified: honesty and manners of researchers, insufficient role of faculties in guiding students in scientific integrity, weakness in documenting electronic data, and limitation in students' academic writing skills. Consequently, the researchers provided a number of recommendations: developing Arabic anti-plagiarism tools, encouraging faculties to educate graduate students about scientific research ethics, applying the concept of digital scientific integrity, and reviewing academic programs to include principals of scientific research ethics.