Aim: To summarize the findings from literature regarding the prevalence of plagiarism and its various types, knowledge, and attitudes of students toward plagiarism, factors associated with plagiarism, and the applied interventions to decrease the incidence of plagiarism.
Background: Plagiarism is a major form of academic dishonesty practiced by students at all educational levels.
Introduction: Academic dishonesty was defined as any unauthorized help that adds to students' formal academic performance. These dishonest behaviors can be categorized as falsifying information, hiding errors, collaborating with colleagues when not allowed, and plagiarism.
Methods: Systematic search of databases was conducted in September 2021 to identify studies that discussed plagiarism in nursing studies. We included 31 studies in this systematic review and meta-analysis, with a total of 9,175 nursing students. The analysis was conducted using RevMan software.
Results: Plagiarism was the most frequent academic misconduct among nursing students (practiced by 55.3%). Paraphrasing without referencing was the most practiced form (39.53%), while submitting others' work without acknowledgment was the least one (9.61%). Most students were aware of the concept of plagiarism (80.8%) and had positive ethical attitudes toward it (88.26%). Plagiarism was negatively associated with age, parenting, and completing semester credits. However, it was positively correlated with average grades and liberal educators. Plagiarism was a significant predictor of clinical misconduct.
Discussion: A gap in the students' knowledge and skills were noticed. These gaps may be contributing to the high occurrence of plagiaristic acts, besides the unethical attitudes.
Conclusion: Plagiarism is a serious academic misconduct practice that can be associated with subsequent clinical misconduct. There is a need to fill the knowledge and skills gap, and to set effective policies.
Implication for nursing and health policy: In their attempts to eliminate plagiarism, nurse educators are encouraged to provide effective educational training and practical tasks, in order to fill the gaps in knowledge and skills. Additionally, implementing clear and effective punishment policies would prevent intentional plagiaristic acts. This would aid in introducing qualified nurses accountable for the health of patients.
Keywords: Academic misconduct; clinical misconduct; meta-analysis; nursing students; plagiarism; systematic review.
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