Academic dishonesty in e-learning, a threat to the integrity of the medical education system under the COVID-19 epidemic

Academic dishonesty is a common problem in higher education, which has become more widespread with the outbreak of coronavirus. To tackle the problem, it seems necessary to identify specific areas and forms that cause dishonesty. In this regard, in this study, the reasons (motives) of students in medical universities and forms of academic dishonesty were scrutinized.

 The research approach was qualitative. Accordingly, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 samples from two groups of faculty members and students during the academic years 2020 and 2021, and the interviews were conducted till theoretical saturation. Thematic content analysis method was used to analyze the qualitative data.

 The results revealed that students' reasons for moving towards academic dishonesty in the midst of the crisis can be divided into three categories: individual factors, social pressure, and academic issues. Besides, the forms of academic dishonesty were manifested in three forms of cheat, cooperation, and plagiarism.

 Relieving the pressures of family, social, academic, and cultural life as well as workload and other individual activities to reduce cheat and the phenomenon of academic dishonesty in medical universities requires the adoption of appropriate preventive strategies and policies, including the formation of values and guidelines.