Unmasking the Understanding of Academic Dishonesty Among Undergraduate Medical Students: "Is That Cheating?"

Introduction Academic dishonesty threatens the environs of medical education, wherein medical graduates are expected to exhibit professional honesty. Despite the efforts of institutions and governing bodies, the implementation of an environment of academic integrity is a challenge. We hypothesized that what medical students perceive as academic dishonesty might be different from the prevalent understanding of academic dishonesty among the teaching fraternity. This exploratory study was done to identify and explore in depth what constitutes cheating in the eyes of a medical student. Methods This qualitative study was planned as a semi-structured interview among undergraduate medical students in the second year of study (n=25). The dimensions studied were the individual perceptions of what constitutes cheating, self-reported responses with underlying reasoning to hypothetical academic cheating scenarios, and responses on instances of self-experienced or self-observed instances of academic dishonesty.  Results The responses indicate the ambiguous interpretation of academic honesty by students and four chief themes of the interpretation of dishonesty, based on student understanding. Our results identify core areas, such as the need for a clear and unambiguous institutional academic integrity policy, an environment of academic honesty, and strict enforcement of penalties for breach of ethical conduct, that need to be addressed to tackle the menace of academic dishonesty. Conclusion Themes derived from our study describe student factors, including trivialization of academic integrity, that lead to academic dishonesty. Advocacy for academic honesty in educational institutions must address these factors to enforce institutional standards.