Recommendations for reduction of academic dishonesty in clinical rotations for general medical students: A policy brief

Academic dishonesty encompasses unethical behavior aimed at gaining an unfair academic advantage. Despite the inherent requirements of honesty and ethical conduct in medical science, academic dishonesty has been a persistent issue among medical students since the inception of medical education. Given the high prevalence of academic dishonesty among general medical students at the clinical level in Iran, it is imperative to implement measures and strategies to mitigate this problem in the future. In this policy brief, we analyzed findings from prior studies conducted at North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences (NKUMS) and conducted a comprehensive review of the global literature on academic dishonesty in medical education. Based on the available findings, we present evidence-based strategies and recommendations for reducing the incidence of academic dishonesty in the clinical education component of the general medicine curriculum.