"Endemic Microcheating" by Academics "Going Unpunished"

"Growing levels of “microcheating” by academics are being ignored as universities focus on detecting more serious allegations of scientific misconduct and students' unauthorized use of artificial intelligence, a leading educationalist has claimed."

"Macfarlane argues increased efforts to tackle more blatant types of academic fraud, such as falsification, fabrication or plagiarism, and a “moral panic” over student cheating using AI, have led scholars to become more accepting of “more subtle forms of cheating that are harder to detect and attract less public attention.”"

"Often described as “questionable research practices,” Macfarlane contends that behavior such as “double dipping”-when an academic publishes two papers that are substantially the same-and excessive self-citation (“citing oneself gratuitously even when others are recognized as more significant authorities in the academic field”) should instead be labeled “microcheating.”"

"“This is a deliberate attempt to mislead the reader into thinking that the author has read the original source when in fact they have not read it and probably relied on a secondary interpretation which is more accessible and gives them enough superficial information to lay claim to a mastery they do not possess,” Macfarlane told Times Higher Education."

Universities increasingly target blatant scientific misconduct and student cheating involving artificial intelligence, while subtler academic cheating practices receive less scrutiny. Scholars may become more accepting of “more subtle forms of cheating” that are harder to detect and attract less public attention. Behaviors such as double dipping, where substantially similar papers are published, and excessive self-citation, where authors cite themselves gratuitously despite more significant authorities, are framed as microcheating. Symbolic citation is described as citing works through others’ reading lists rather than reading the original text, creating a misleading impression of having mastered the source. This misrepresentation is linked to reliance on accessible secondary interpretations that provide superficial information.

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