What is academic integrity?

Academic work relies on trust. Writers are obliged to respect the work of others, which means that credit should always be given to previous work through references to sources that are being quoted, paraphrased or used in any other way. Similarly, writers are required to present their own experiments, results and contributions in an honest manner.

Academic integrity is a term used for the professional honesty that researchers and writers of scholarly texts are expected to demonstrate in their work. The code of conduct related to academic integrity is stipulated by rules and practices concerning the way in which research is carried out and reported.

Core values

The International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI) defines academic integrity as "a commitment to six fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage".

These key words sum up the code of conduct that scholarship abides by. Whether you are a first-term student or an experienced scholar, you are expected to follow the rules set by your university. To read more about Lund University policies, see

Follow the rules

Universities, in Sweden as well as abroad, have documented rules for academic integrity. A survey of a number of such documents will demonstrate their resemblance and that they include, more or less, the issues identified in the quotation above.

The area of academic integrity is vast. Not only does it include guidelines for writers, but also guidelines regarding ethical aspects of field work and clinical work and issues such as, for instance, fabrication and falsification of results. Breach of established rules of conduct in research is often referred to as academic misconduct.

On AWELU, we focus on aspects connected with writing, in particular forms of plagiarism in writing. Read more here:

Page Manager: aweluluse | 2023-02-09