Prevalence and factors associated with academic plagiarism in freshmen students of Social Work and Social Education: an empirical analysis

This article focuses on the study of academic plagiarism among freshmen university students enrolled in the degrees of Social Work and Social Education. Through a questionnaire applied to 913 students from 6 cohorts, the prevalence of plagiarism and some of the main factors associated with this phenomenon are analysed. The main results indicate that the students with the greatest tendency to plagiarize are associated with being male, younger, consider themselves to be worse students, value plagiarism less seriously, are poorly motivated by their studies and face academic tasks with a propensity to procrastinate. Finally, the students who plagiarize the most in their assignments are also the ones with the greatest propensity toward dishonest behaviour in other evaluation activities and the ones who attach the least seriousness to this fraud. The conclusions of the study indicate and provide areas for interventions aimed at promoting academic integrity and reducing fraudulent practices in higher education based on evidence.