Attitude toward Plagiarism among Postgraduate Students of a Medical Institute in South IndiaAttitude toward Plagiarism among Postgraduate Students of a Medical Institute in South India

Background: Academic integrity is an essential quality to uplift the standards of higher education and plagiarism destroys it. Aims: This study aimed to explore the attitude toward plagiarism (ATP) and its association with gender, hours of Internet use among postgraduate (PG) students in a tertiary care teaching and research institute in South India. Methods: PG students from different disciplines (N = 383) formed the study participants for cross-sectional study and we used the ATP questionnaire (ATP-Q) that consisted of 29 statements measuring three attitudinal factors: positive, negative attitude, and subjective norms. Participants were given pro forma to fill the ATP-Q and data collected immediately. Results: Female students formed 58.7% of the participants and 41% were in their 1st year of the course. Our study noted that only 19.58% had the attitude that seems to approve plagiarism. Their scores on the questionnaire fell in the low-score category of positive attitude factor, low-score category of subjective norms factor, and high-score category of negative attitude factor. We did not see any association between approving ATP (categorized as Yes or No) with gender or hours of Internet use. However, a significant proportion of students in the 3rd year had approving ATP compared to those in the preceding years (Chi-square (df), p: 18.05(2), < .001). Participants stated that increasing awareness and training on scientific writing skills as the most common ways to reduce plagiarism. Conclusion: Nearly one-fifth of PG students in the medical college seem to have attitude of approval of plagiarism, with majority having showed mixed ATP. Internet use and gender did not show any association with ATP. Increasing awareness and improving scientific literacy are suggested to minimize plagiarism among PG students in a medical institute.