Between academic integrity and student plagiarism, what do Mexican public universities say in their regulations?

Abstract

This is a documentary research that seeks to contribute to the study of student plagiarism by analyzing the regulations of 33 Mexican public universities. The purpose is to recognize both the strengths and challenges of institutional legal frameworks and to identify how they promote academic integrity and confront dishonest behaviors such as plagiarism. The analysis is organized into three categories. The first is axiological and analyzes the values expressed in organic laws and codes of ethics. The second is operational and examines school, degree, and graduate regulations. The third identifies the notions of plagiarism and institutional resources to prevent and identify it. The scope and limitations of the regulations are presented, and it is observed that universities state suitable values to promote academic integrity among their students. However, these principles are disconnected from the specific regulations that guide their daily activities since the regulations on respect for intellectual property are scarce and ambiguous. It should be noted that the successful legal initiatives to begin to combat plagiarism are insufficient to be considered as the only institutional strategy to face this challenge; on the contrary, they are the basis for designing actions and allocating various resources to eradicate it.