Plagiarism among University Students: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

This systematic review synthesizes empirical evidence on plagiarism among university students, with a particular focus on students’ perceptions, the prevalence and forms of plagiarism, detection approaches, and the challenges associated with identifying and preventing academic misconduct. The review aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the educational, technological, and institutional factors influencing plagiarism in higher education. A total of 30 peer-reviewed studies published between 2010 and 2024 were systematically retrieved from Scopus, IEEE, and other major academic databases. The studies were selected through a rigorous screening and eligibility process in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. The included studies were critically evaluated and qualitatively synthesized to identify recurring themes, patterns, and gaps in the existing literature on plagiarism among university students. The review demonstrates a persistent gap between students’ recognition of plagiarism as an unethical academic practice and their understanding of its diverse forms, including direct, paraphrased, self-, and AI-assisted plagiarism. The evidence indicates that plagiarism is primarily driven by academic pressure, limited academic writing proficiency, inadequate knowledge of citation and referencing conventions, time constraints, and insufficient institutional guidance. Although plagiarism detection tools such as Turnitin and Grammarly have improved the identification of textual similarity and encouraged academic integrity, their effectiveness remains constrained by technological limitations, disciplinary differences, multilingual contexts, and the increasing sophistication of AI-assisted writing. These findings suggest that plagiarism should be viewed not only as an issue of academic dishonesty but also as a consequence of broader educational and institutional shortcomings. The review highlights the importance of adopting a comprehensive institutional approach to academic integrity by strengthening plagiarism awareness, enhancing academic writing and referencing instruction, implementing transparent and consistent academic integrity policies, and integrating context-sensitive detection technologies. Such measures can support ethical scholarship while reducing unintentional and deliberate plagiarism across diverse educational settings. This review offers an up-to-date synthesis of 30 empirical studies published between 2010 and 2024, providing a holistic perspective on plagiarism by integrating evidence on students’ perceptions, underlying causes, detection technologies, and institutional responses. Unlike previous reviews that primarily focus on detection methods or prevalence, this study combines educational, technological, and policy perspectives into a unified framework, identifies key research gaps, and offers evidence-based recommendations to guide future research and institutional practices in promoting academic integrity.