Plagiarism and Ethical Issues in Academic Research in Tertiary Institutions in South– South

Plagiarism and ethical issues are major threats to research integrity in educational research in Nigeria.The study aimed at discovering the nature of plagiarism and ethical issues that are plaguing research integrity in Nigerian tertiary institutions.The study employed descriptive quantitative survey design to prosecute the investigation.The population of the study will comprised lecturers in the Colleges of Education, Polytechnics and the Universities in the South -South states of Nigeria.The sample was drawn from three higher institutions from selected three states, using stratified sampling technique.Data analysis was done using various software for: Descriptive analysis, One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Confirmatory factor analysis, multiple regression analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM).The results brought to the fore various forms of plagiarism and other ethical issues in educational research considered as threat to research integrity in the educational system.Recommendations were made based on the findings that would offer pragmatic solutions to the problems.