Research integrity awareness among biology students - Experience from the University of Belgrade

The importance of promoting research ethics in higher education has been widely recognized but poorly examined, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This paper reports the findings of a systematic investigation of students' knowledge of, experience with, and attitudes to research integrity among bachelor, masters-, and doctoral-level students in the Faculty of Biology at the University of Belgrade. The study was conducted as a self-administered anonymous online survey, consisting of open-ended, multiple-choice, and type-scale questions used to assess rates of knowledge and awareness of research integrity. The overall response rate was 23.4%. While biology students at all levels of the study had a high rate of knowledge about research misconduct, 4.29% admitted plagiarism, 3.28% fabrication of data, 2.78% falsification, and 1.78% presentation of the results or data in a misleading way. The level of the study among students in the Faculty of Biology was not associated with rates of knowledge and awareness on research integrity. Prior ethics training and students' research experience were associated with increased knowledge on research misconduct, faculty policies that regulate it, and attitudes and perceptions of important research integrity issues. Based on these observations, a series of recommendations for improving research ethics training are presented.