Edited by: Tracey Bretag, University of South Australia Business School, Adelaide
In 2013 Transparency International published the Global Corruption Report: Education which detailed a vast array of corrupt practices including “illicit payments in recruitment and admissions, nepotism in tenured positions, bribery in on-campus accommodation and grading, political and corporate undue influence in research, plagiarism, ‘ghost authorship’ and editorial misconduct in academic journals” (Executive Summary, p. xx). In 2015 the Independent Commission Against Corruption in Australia published their report ‘Learning the hard way: Managing Corruption Risks associated with International Students at Universities in NSW’ which provided a window into corrupt practices in the highly lucrative international education ‘industry’ including: falsification of entry documents, cheating in English language proficiency tests, online contract cheat sites selling assignments, plagiarism, and cheating and fraud in examinations. The report made it clear that “corruption has seeped into every aspect of the higher education sector, from admissions all the way through to graduation” (Bretag 2015).
Unfortunately, despite global and local reports about the impact of corruption on integrity in education, little progress appears to have been made in what is an increasingly competitive environment at all levels of education. Scandals erupt on a regular basis all around the world, with reports about the ‘mafia’ in India profiting from “the desperation of students and parents to get ahead in a country where university places and jobs are limited”, or commercial cheat sites using YouTube stars to promote their illicit services to 700 million students.
It is evident that the combination of competition and corruption in education is potentially lethal to academic integrity. This thematic collection invites empirical, theoretical or case study contributions which address this complex interplay of factors and provide fresh insights and recommendations for action.
Submitted papers will be reviewed in a timely manner and published directly after acceptance (i.e. without waiting for the accomplishment of all other contributions). Thanks to the International Journal for Educational Integrity (IJEI) open access policy, the articles published in this thematic series will have a wide, global audience.
Waivers
Some author processing charges (APCs) may be waived at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief to outstanding and innovative contributions.
Submission instructions
Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure you have carefully read the submission guidelines for International Journal for Educational Integrity. The complete manuscript should be submitted through the journal submission system. To ensure that you submit to the correct thematic series please select the appropriate section in the drop-down menu upon submission. In addition, indicate within your cover letter that you wish your manuscript to be considered as part of the thematic series on series title. All submissions will undergo rigorous peer review, and accepted articles will be published within the journal as a collection.
Submissions will also benefit from the usual advantages of open access publication:
Rapid publication: Online submission, electronic peer review and production make the process of publishing your article simple and efficient
High visibility and international readership in your field: Open access publication ensures high visibility and maximum exposure for your work - anyone with online access can read your article
No space constraints: Publishing online means unlimited space for figures, extensive data and video footage
Authors retain copyright, licensing the article under a Creative Commons license: articles can be freely redistributed and reused as long as the article is correctly attributed.