Undergraduate and postgraduate pharmacy students' perceptions of plagiarism and academic honesty.

OBJECTIVES To assess undergraduate and postgraduate pharmacy students' perceptions of plagiarism and academic honesty. METHODS A questionnaire was administered to undergraduate and postgraduate pharmacy students to determine their levels of awareness of university policy concerning academic honesty; attitudes to plagiarism by rating the acceptability of a range of plagiarizing and cheating practices; and choice of appropriate penalties for a first and second occurrence. The choice of behaviors in response to a scenario about the preparation of a reading-based written assignment and the strategies that students would be prepared to use in order to submit the assignment on time were also assessed. RESULTS Findings indicated widespread deficiencies in student knowledge of, and attitudes towards, plagiarism. Students did not perceive plagiarism as a serious issue and the use of inappropriate strategies for sourcing and acknowledging material was common. CONCLUSIONS The study highlights the importance of achieving a balance among the 3 dimensions of plagiarism management: prevention, detection and penalty.