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About Academic Integrity

In January 2022 all faculties and schools at Queen’s began following the Senate’s Academic Integrity Procedures – Requirements of Faculties and Schools which were approved on October 26, 2021 and revised on October 5, 2023. In June 2024, the Smith School of Business passed Terms of Reference (PDF 142KB) for the Academic Integrity Panel. Together, these documents provide information about Academic Integrity in Smith School of Business’ undergraduate and most professional graduate programs.

Academic Integrity at Queen's

The Queen’s University Senate Policy on Academic Integrity (“the Policy”) states that students, faculty, and staff have responsibilities to support and uphold the fundamental values of academic integrity: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility and courage.

The purposes of the Senate-approved Academic Integrity Procedures – Requirements of Faculties and Schools (“the Procedures” or the “SAIP-RFS Oct 2023”) are to:

  • affirm the University’s dedication to the values of academic integrity and the seriousness with which it treats departures;
  • protect the academic integrity of the University and the value of its courses, programs, and degrees;
  • explain the responsibilities of students, instructors, and staff;
  • ensure the rights of students are protected; and
  • promote consistency among decision-makers, Faculties and Schools and the equitable treatment of students.

The Policy and these Procedures apply to all members of the Queen’s University community including students, instructors, and staff. They govern all assessed academic activities that receive acknowledgement from the University. They also apply to related academic activities, such as application for international exchange and academic considerations.

The Academic Integrity Panel (“AIP”) of Smith School of Business implements and operationalizes the Queen’s Policy and Procedures. The terms of reference explain the AIP’s responsibilities and operations; these should be read in conjunction with the Queen’s Policy and Procedures.

Proceedings under these Procedures are also governed by the Senate Policy on Academic Integrity, any applicable rules of the Smith School of Business, Senate and the University, and the principles of procedural fairness.

Relevant Policies and Resources

Integrity in Action: the Core Values

Queen’s University is dedicated to creating a scholarly community free to explore a range of ideas, to build and advance knowledge and to share the ideas and knowledge that emerge from a range of intellectual pursuits. Each core value of academic integrity, as defined in the Senate Academic Integrity Policy, gives rise to and supports the next.

Honesty appears in presenting one’s own academic work, whether in the context of an examination, written assignment, laboratory or seminar presentation. It is in researching one’s own work for course assignments. It is also present in faithfully reporting statistical results even when they do not conform to an original hypothesis. Honesty is present in acknowledging dependence on the ideas or words of another and in distinguishing one’s own ideas and thoughts from other sources. Honesty also plays a role in exchanges with instructors, adminstrators, and peers, especially in a professionalized setting, where authentic self-representation and truthfulness are essential.

Trust exists in an environment in which one’s own ideas can be expressed without fear of ridicule or fear that someone else will take credit for them.

Fairness is established in clear and transparent expectations, standards, and practices in the interactions of students, faculty, and administrators.

Respect, in a general sense, is part of an intellectual community that recognizes the participatory nature of the learning process and honours and respects a wide range of opinions and ideas. However, “respect” appears in a very particular sense when students attend class, pay attention, contribute to discussion and submit papers on time; instructors “show respect by taking students’ ideas seriously, by recognizing them as individuals, helping them develop their ideas, providing full and honest feedback on their work, and valuing their perspectives and their goals” (“The Fundamental Values of Academic Integrity”, 3rd Edition, p. 8).

Responsibility is both personal and collective and engages students, administrators, faculty and staff in creating and maintaining a learning environment supported by and supporting academic integrity.

Courage “differs from the preceding values by being more a quality or capacity of character – the capacity to act in accordance with one’s values despite fear” (“The Fundamental Values of Academic Integrity”, 3rd edition, p. 10). Courage is displayed by students who make choices and decisions with integrity that are followed by action, even in the face of peer pressure to cheat, copy another’s material, provide their own work to others to facilitate cheating, or otherwise represent themselves dishonestly. Students also display courage by acknowledging prior wrongdoing and taking proactive measures to rectify any associated negative impact.

All of these values are not merely abstract but are expressed in and reinforced by the University’s policies and practices.

Departures from Academic Integrity

The six fundamental values of honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage support the entire educational experience of the University. Adhering to these values in all academic work ensures the value of the degree, the integrity of the institution and the integrity of individual achievement. Contravening any of these values compromises the integrity of the student’s experience in completing academic work, working with peers, and interacting with instructors.

Some examples of specific conduct and actions that may constitute departures from academic integrity are listed below. The list is not exhaustive, as other conduct and actions may also be found to be departures.

“Conduct” includes misconduct and may include any actions or oral or written statements that may give rise to concerns about a possible departure from academic integrity, or taking steps in furtherance of a plan to engage in a departure from academic integrity.

“Work” may include essays, papers, assignments, journal entries, tests, examinations, research reports or results, or any other product of academic work. A departure from academic integrity can also occur outside academic “work” or performance in a course, such as misconduct in an international exchange application, request for academic consideration or academic appeal, and other interactions with University processes related to academics.

In addition to the other specific types of departures from academic integrity listed, “Departure from the Core Values of Academic Integrity” encompasses a range of conduct and infractions. Any acts that deviate from the core values of academic integrity (honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, courage) that do not fall under the other specific categories may be categorized under this broader heading. For example, dishonesty in communications with faculty or administrators may constitute a Departure from the Core Values of Academic Integrity.

Furthermore, in the educational context, there is trust that students will abide by the core values of academic integrity and not violate these values or attempt to violate this trust. Therefore, attempts at plagiarism, facilitation, and other departure types are as much a threat to academic integrity as the acts themselves, and such attempts may constitute a Departure from the Core Values of Academic Integrity.

Plagiarism involves presenting ideas, words, or work, created by others or by technological assistance, as if they are one’s own or without proper attribution/citation. Self-plagiarism is also a departure from academic integrity. Self-plagiarism refers to the practice of submitting the same work, in whole or in part, for credit in two or more courses, or in the same course more than once without the prior written permission of the instructor. Self-plagiarism can also include presenting one’s own previously published work as though it were new. Examples include:

  • Plagiarism involves presenting another’s ideas, words, or work as one’s own
  • Copying or using quotations or paraphrasing material from a print or other source, including the internet or output from artificial intelligence, without proper acknowledgement
  • Copying another student’s work
  • Submitting the same piece of work in more than one course without permission.

Unauthorized content generation is the production of academic work, in whole or in part, for academic credit, progression, or award, using unapproved or undeclared human or technological assistance. Examples include:

  • Response generation from artificial intelligence including, but not limited to, text-, image-, code-, or video-generating artificial intelligence tools
  • Submitting assignments to online forums or websites for generating solutions.

Contract cheating is a form of plagiarism that involves outsourcing academic work to a third-party including, but not limited to, a commercial provider, current or former student, family member or acquaintance, and submitting the work as one's own. Examples include:

  • Purchasing a term paper or assignment to be submitted as one’s own
  • Submitting essays or assignments that have been obtained – whether for pay or freely – from homework sites, essay mills, tutor sites, friends, family members or classmates
  • Hiring an exam impersonator.

Use of unauthorized materials involves using or possessing material that the instructions for the academic work explicitly or implicitly prohibit you from having in any academic examination or test, or in connection with any other form of academic work. Examples include:

  • Using or possessing unauthorized written material or an electronic device with memory and/or web access such as a calculator, cell phone, or smart watch that is not permitted during a test or examination
  • Copying and/or accessing another student’s test, examination and/or assignment answer(s)
  • Utilizing materials that have been received directly or indirectly from former students or clubs to aid in the completion of tests, examinations and/or assignments.

Deception involves misrepresenting the accuracy of information, the authenticity of a document, one’s self, one’s work, or one’s relation to the University. Examples include:

  • Creating or causing to be created and/or submitting any falsified official academic document, including a transcript
  • Altering any official academic documents, including transcripts
  • Creating and/or submitting any falsified medical note
  • Altering any information on documentation provided by a third party (such as a date on a medical note)
  • Impersonating someone in a test or examination or allowing someone to impersonate you
  • Fabricating or falsifying laboratory or research data; using another person’s credentials or representing yourself as having credentials that are not rightfully yours.

Facilitation involves enabling another student’s breach of academic integrity. Examples include:

  • Allowing academic work to be copied by another student for submission as that student’s work
  • Selling academic work
  • Making information available to another student about exam questions or possible answers during an online or take-home exam window, or other exam scenario.

Using the intellectual property of another without the authorization of the owner. Examples include:

  • Uploading course materials to a note-sharing website without the instructor’s permission
  • Providing course materials to a commercial study-prep service not sanctioned by the University
  • Distributing, publicly posting, selling or otherwise disseminating an instructor’s course materials or providing an instructor’s course materials to anyone else for distribution, posting, sale or other means of dissemination, without the instructor’s express consent.

Unauthorized collaboration involves working with others, without the specific permission of the instructor, on academic work that will be submitted for a grade. Examples include:

  • Working with others on in-class or take-home tests, papers, or homework assignments that are meant to be completed individually
  • Communicating with another person during an exam or about an exam during the exam window.

Failing to abide by the Smith School of Business or University academic rules and regulations. Examples include:

  • Failing to follow rules imposed by course instructors, or others (for example, teaching assistants, guest or substitute instructors), regarding the preparation, writing, and submission of academic work
  • Failing to follow rules set out by instructors, examination proctors, or the Exams Office in the writing of tests and examinations
  • Failing to follow regulations governing ethics reviews
  • Failing to comply with assigned remedies and sanctions resulting from a departure from academic integrity
  • Unauthorized removal of materials from a library.

Individual instructors or Program Directors should point out to students, in writing, any areas of specific concern not covered above. Students are encouraged to consult instructors if they are unsure of the standards of academic integrity appropriate to an academic program, course, or activity.

Sanctions for Departures from Academic Integrity

Any student who is found to have committed a departure from academic integrity may face a range of consequences, including:

  • an oral or written warning that such infractions constitute unacceptable behaviour;
  • a learning experience involving rewriting or revising the original work within a stipulated period of time;
  • the submission of new or other work within a stipulated period of time;
  • the deduction of partial or total loss of marks for the work or exam;
  • a deduction of a percentage of the final grade in the course;
  • a failing grade (down to a grade of zero) in the course;
  • an official written warning that the penalty for a subsequent offence could be a requirement to withdraw from the University for a specified minimum period of time;
  • the rescinding of University- or Faculty-awarded scholarships, prizes and/or bursaries;
  • a requirement to withdraw from the University for a specified minimum period of time; or
  • the revocation or rescinding of a degree.

For information, advice, and assistance about academic integrity and the appeal processes, students are encouraged to consult the resources of the Office of the University Ombudsperson at queensu.ca/ombuds in additional to the Policy, Procedures and AIP Terms of Reference. The email address of the Ombudsperson is ombuds@queensu.ca.