View Document

Academic Integrity Policy

This is the current version of this document. To view historic versions, click the link in the document's navigation bar.

Section 1 - Purpose

(1) The University is responsible for upholding academic integrity through its policies and procedures, plans and activities.

(2) This Policy sets out the principles, responsibilities, and practices that underpin the University’s commitment to promoting and upholding academic integrity. Academic integrity is vital to sustain ethical standards in all aspects of academic activities.

Scope

(3) This Policy applies to all applicants seeking admission to the University and to students (including graduands) enrolled in coursework awards, non-award courses, units of study, preparatory or other programs (subsequently referred to as students within this Policy) and participants in microcredential offerings.

(4) This Policy applies to all academic and professional staff engaged in learning, teaching, and research, including those responsible for the design, approval, delivery, and administration of, coursework awards, non-award courses, units of study, preparatory or other programs and offerings (subsequently referred to as staff within this Policy).

(5) This Policy does not replace the requirements specified in the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research, 2018, (Australian Code) or the Macquarie University Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research (Macquarie Research Code). Staff and students engaging in research activities must read and comply with these Codes in conjunction with this Policy.

(6) This Policy should be read in conjunction with the University’s Rules, policies and procedures which address academic and research conduct.

Top of Page

Section 2 - Policy

(7) Staff and students are required to uphold the principles and values of academic integrity as a shared responsibility across all learning and teaching activities.

(8) Academic integrity information and resources are provided to applicants seeking admission, prospective and current students and staff, to support the development of good practices in maintaining academic integrity and positive educational outcomes.

(9) Alleged breaches of academic integrity are managed following the Academic Integrity Breach Procedure according to the principles of procedural fairness.

Academic Integrity Principles

(10) Academic integrity informs our behavior and actions in learning, teaching, and research as follows:

academic integrity is fundamental to learning, teaching, research, and discovery at the University. It involves using, generating, and communicating information in an ethical, honest and responsible manner;
the University is committed to fostering a collective culture of awareness and development that empowers all staff and students to become champions of academic integrity; and
academic integrity is a commitment to developing and actively engaging with:
1. the six interconnected values of honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness, and courage in academic scholarship and scholarly activities; and
2. the academic skills, habits and dispositions through which these values are demonstrated.

Academic Integrity Values

(11) Macquarie University expects the following academic integrity values to be applied by staff and students engaged in learning, teaching and research:

Honesty: the foundation of integrity and the prerequisite for full realisation of trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility, encouraging openness, and acknowledging / giving credit where required;
Respect: valuing diversity, being inclusive, listening to others’ viewpoints, and treating others fairly in a context of academic freedom as expressed in the University’s Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom Policy;
Trust: reciprocal, and refers to being reliable, applying academic standards unfailingly and fairly, and acting with genuineness;
Responsibility: being proactive, taking ownership, and holding oneself and others accountable;
Fairness: communicating clear and reasonable expectations, acting predictably and transparently, responding consistently (including impartial treatment), and engaging equitably; and
Courage: a willingness to hold oneself and others to highest standard of academic integrity even in challenging circumstances.

Shared Responsibility for Academic Integrity

(12) The pursuit of academic integrity is a shared responsibility among staff and students to:

demonstrate and uphold the University’s academic integrity values;
embed, promote and maintain a positive culture that supports the University’s academic integrity values;
be familiar with the policies, procedures, and supporting materials that promote and uphold academic integrity;
access and use information, applications, and systems in a manner authorised by the University;
act in accordance with this Policy in respect to their academic conduct and whilst engaging in any academic exercise; and
report any suspected breaches of academic integrity in accordance with the Academic Integrity Breach Procedure.

(13) It is the responsibility of all students of the University to:

conduct their learning practices in accordance with the Student Code of Conduct.

(14) It is the responsibility of the University to:

provide a supportive, inclusive, and safe learning environment;
provide training, resources and support to staff to assist them in providing appropriate academic integrity guidance and relevant feedback to students;
provide training, resources and support to students to develop their knowledge and skills in academic integrity;
provide appropriate mechanisms for all members of the University to identify and report alleged breaches of academic integrity in an accessible, anonymous and confidential manner;
maintain transparent and accessible policies and procedures regarding the management of alleged academic misconduct, including advising students of available support services; and
ensure that all information collected, created, stored, or processed using the University’s computer and network resources are handled and protected in accordance with the Cyber Security Policy and related procedures.

Academic Integrity Training

(15) Academic integrity training, appropriate to educational level, discipline, and delivery context, is mandatory for all students, and participants in microcredential offerings where applicable.

(16) Students in AQF certified courses who do not complete the relevant mandatory training satisfactorily within a specified timeframe will be prevented from accessing further unit content in iLearn. Access will be reinstated once the training has been completed.

(17) Students found to have engaged in academic misconduct may be required to complete additional training.

(18) Staff are required to satisfactorily complete the training relevant to them.

Academic Conduct

(19) When setting or engaging with an academic exercise, the pursuit of academic integrity is supported by an understanding of acceptable and unacceptable academic conduct in learning, teaching, and research.

Acceptable Academic Conduct

(20) Acceptable academic conduct refers to the practice of completing academic work responsibly, honestly, and in an appropriate academic style:

observing copyright and privacy laws, and relevant licence restrictions;
employing suitable referencing; and
acknowledging all information sources.

(21) Acceptable academic conduct is supported by, but not limited to, the following acceptable academic activities in learning and teaching, and research:

Authorship	recognises the creation of significant content for, or involvement in the design and / or execution of, a work or research and its output.
Proofreading	is the process of evaluating the technical correctness of written work produced by another author(s) and may include identifying basic errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Proofreading does not involve rewriting the text, changing the words of the author(s), or rearranging the structure of the text. Proofreading may identify errors, but it is important that the author(s) make the actual corrections, as this improves academic practice. While it is acceptable to have work proofread, the University does not endorse any commercial proofreading services.
Editing	is the process of checking and suggesting changes to a text which extends beyond proofreading. While it is acceptable for a third party to advise on ways to improve a paper, the author(s) must make the changes themselves. It is acceptable for higher degree research students to work with an editor after they have obtained permission from their supervisor. This process is governed by the Guidelines for Editing Research Theses as set out by the Institute of Professional Editors Limited (IPEd).
Referencing	is a standardised method used in academic exercises that acknowledges the sources from which specific ideas, facts, theories, evidence, or any other information have been obtained. It identifies the original authors or contributors of the material.
Acknowledgement	is a means of identifying contributions to a work or research and its outputs that do not justify the attribution of authorship.
Collaboration	is a form of cooperative learning where two or more students / staff work together to produce an outcome or output.
Group work	is a type of academic exercise that requires collaboration between students. The exercise must clearly outline which items or aspects are permitted to be the result of student collaboration.
Data management	is the practice of managing data to support and enable learning, teaching, and research. It involves planning and making decisions about how to collect, organise, maintain, store, back-up, preserve, and share data throughout its lifecycle.

Unacceptable Academic Conduct

(22) Unacceptable academic conduct may lead to an allegation of an academic integrity breach.

(23) An academic integrity breach is a failure to apply the principles of academic integrity.

(24) A breach of academic integrity includes, but is not limited to, the following:

Contract cheating	occurs where a student submits an academic exercise as their own work that has been fully or partially completed by a third party regardless of: the relationship between the student and the third party; or if the third party is paid or unpaid. Contract cheating may include: submitting completed or partially completed academic exercise/s from a commercial service; submitting completed or partially completed academic exercise/s produced by a friend, family member, student or staff member of the University; or a student arranging for another person to sit their exam, complete a task or quiz, or complete academic exercise/s.
Collusion	involves engaging in unauthorised cooperation with one or more students to complete an academic exercise. Collusion may include: working with a friend, or group of friends, to complete an academic exercise required to be completed individually; and / or sharing the following with other students: quiz, test or examination questions; quiz, test, or examination answers; and / or completed or partially completed academic exercises, e.g., essays, reports, problem sets, multimedia works, presentation slides, computer code, or laboratory results.
Cheating	occurs when a student seeks to gain an unfair advantage in any academic exercise. Cheating may include: copying the work of others undertaking a task, either in whole or part, and presenting it as their own; falsifying in-text citations, references, bibliographies, and / or reference lists; and / or using unauthorised materials, assistance, resources or devices in an academic exercise.
Plagiarism	occurs when a student advertently or inadvertently uses a third party’s ideas or manner of expressing them and passes them off as their own in an academic exercise. Plagiarism may include: paraphrasing other people’s work and / or ideas without referencing the source; referencing the source, but not sufficiently rephrasing the original work or ideas; directly replicating phrases, passages, or the structure of a source without using quotation marks or providing a reference; presenting other people’s ideas, designs, code or images as the student’s own work; and / or using cultural artefacts without permission and / or appropriate acknowledgement.
Self-plagiarism	occurs when a student re-submits their own academic exercise that has already been assessed to be assessed again, without authorisation. Self-plagiarism may include: copying text or information from an already assessed academic exercise and using it for another academic exercise without the correct acknowledgement; recycling an already assessed academic exercise as brand new work in a different unit; or resubmitting an academic exercise that has already been assessed for the same unit (i.e., if a student repeats a unit of study).
Unauthorised use of generative artificial intelligence	occurs when a student uses material produced by a generative artificial intelligence in an academic exercise, without authorisation and submits it as their own work. Unauthorised use of generative artificial intelligence may include using generative artificial intelligence to: produce or retrieve information and then using that information in an academic exercise; paraphrase text; increase or enhance the quality of an academic exercise, beyond the purposes permitted within the academic exercise; produce an answer for a task or quiz; and / or produce non-text-based work and then using that non-text-based work in an academic exercise.
Unauthorised file sharing	occurs when a student shares, sells or passes on a file to another person or entity, without authorisation. Unauthorised file sharing may include: uploading an academic exercise, notes, or university intellectual property (such as lecture slides, lecture recordings, class handouts, assessment requirements, and questions) onto an online document repository site; using university intellectual property to create online or publicly available material; entering a question or problem, written by the university as part of an academic exercise, to seek a solution in an online forum or from a website; and / or purchasing or subscribing to a service that facilitates file, note, or answer sharing in any form.

Responsible Conduct during Research Activities

(25) Staff and students engaged in research activities should refer to the:

Macquarie University Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research for the principles and responsibilities expected to be applied; and
Macquarie University Research Code Complaints, Breaches and Investigation Procedure (Macquarie Research Code Procedure) for the process for how potential or actual departures from the principles and responsibilities (a breach of the Macquarie Research Code, including research misconduct) will be reported, assessed, investigated and managed.

Reporting Breaches of Academic Integrity

For Students

(26) An alleged breach of this Policy may amount to a breach of the Student Code of Conduct and/or an academic integrity breach allegation. Academic integrity breaches are reported and handled in accordance with the Academic Integrity Breach Procedure.

For Academic staff

(27) An alleged breach of this Policy may amount to a breach of the Staff Code of Conduct. The provisions set out in the Macquarie University Academic Staff Enterprise Agreement 2018 may be used to report and manage academic staff misconduct allegations.

For Macquarie University College (The College) staff

(28) An alleged breach of this Policy may amount to a breach of the Staff Code of Conduct. The provisions set out in the Macquarie University College Teaching Staff Agreement 2023 may be used to report and manage Macquarie University College academic staff misconduct allegations.

For Professional staff

(29) An alleged breach of this Policy may amount to a breach of the Staff Code of Conduct. The provisions set out in the Macquarie University Professional Staff Enterprise Agreement 2018 may be used to report and manage professional staff misconduct allegations.

For research activities

(30) An alleged breach of either this Policy and / or the Macquarie Research Code, including any breaches that may amount to research misconduct, will be managed according to the provisions in the Macquarie University Research Code Complaints, Breaches and Investigation Procedure.

Academic Integrity Reporting

(31) An annual report on academic integrity breaches will be prepared by the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) and Registrar for Academic Senate and its committees.

(32) The Faculty Integrity Committees and Macquarie University College Integrity Committee will report to the relevant Faculty Board, or equivalent, on academic integrity breaches and appropriate actions.

Top of Page

Section 3 - Procedures

(33) See Academic Integrity Breach Procedure.

Top of Page

Section 4 - Guidelines

(34) See Academic Integrity Breach Sanctions Matrix.

Top of Page

Section 5 - Definitions

(35) The following definitions apply for the purpose of this Policy:

Academic cheating service means the provision of work to or the undertaking of work for students, in circumstances where the work:
1. is, or forms a substantial part of, an academic exercise that students are required to individually undertake; or
2. could reasonably be regarded as being, or forming a substantial part of, an academic exercise that students are required to individually undertake.
Academic integrity: acting with the values of honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness, and courage in academic scholarship and scholarly activities in learning, teaching, and research.
Academic integrity training: Mandatory academic integrity training (MAIT) ensures that staff and students are aware of the academic integrity principles and values they are required to uphold and foster at Macquarie University. MAIT provides staff and students with a foundational understanding of shared responsibilities, ethical obligations, and good practice in academic integrity.
Academic exercise:
1. An examination, that is, a time limited assessment task including tests, practical assessments, and final examinations; and
2. the submission and assessment of a thesis, dissertation, essay, practical work or other coursework, and any other exercise (including in the case of graduate students transfer and confirmation of status exercises) which is not undertaken in formal examination conditions but counts towards or constitutes the work for a student academic award or for admission to the University or enrolment in any unit or course/program of study or research at the University and includes related research.
Academic integrity breach: when referring to misconduct relating to an academic exercise. This is distinct from general student misconduct.
Research activities: Research activities include conducting or assisting with the conduct of research under the auspices of Macquarie University following the Macquarie Research Code Procedure. Students should be considered as “engaged in research activities” and the matter referred for management per the Macquarie Research Code Procedure, if they are undertaking:
1. the research component of an undergraduate or postgraduate coursework unit which has a research project report or thesis above 10,000 words.
2. the research component of any degree or award for which research equates to a minimum 25 per cent of the entire degree or award.
3. a non-award research internship/scholarship or research experience and an Academic Integrity Officer and/or Research Integrity Officer consider the matter relates to research per the Macquarie Research Code.
4. a research component of any degree program and an Academic Integrity Officer and/or Research Integrity Officer consider the matter relates to research per the Macquarie Research Code.
Research misconduct: A breach of the Macquarie Research Code which is considered serious and is also intentional or reckless or negligent, following the Macquarie Research Code Procedure.
Students: For the purposes of this Policy, a student is a person:
1. seeking admission to the University
2. enrolled in a unit of study at the University
3. who is a graduand
4. suspended from the University
5. on a leave of absence
6. who has deferred enrolment
7. who was a student at the time the alleged conduct occurred.
University Regulation: the by-laws, rules, codes of conduct, policies and directions from time to time of the University.