Doctoral Supervision as a Bedrock for the Academic Integrity Infrastructure

Abstract

The focus in this chapter is academic integrity in the social sciences with an emphasis on supervision and the supervisory role in fostering future generations of academics who embrace high standards of integrity. Supervision is a powerful learning environment for research skills, competencies, and aptitudes, including knowledge of and willingness to act with integrity in any dimension of academic work. Doctoral candidates conduct their own research and hence research competencies, including integrity, need to be acquired, understood, and enacted. Supervisors are role models from whom doctoral candidates learn about research, writing and communication, networking, and academic integrity. Supervision can be harnessed to support institutional efforts to strengthen academic integrity. The chapter reviews the literature on the role of doctoral supervision in fostering academic integrity primarily in the social sciences. Supervision models and research practices vary across fields in the social sciences. In some fields and contexts, research teams and team supervision are prevalent, whereas in others individual research under the guidance of one or two supervisors is common practice. Considering the variety of supervision models and practices, this chapter identifies the contribution of and related practices in supervision in institutional efforts to maintain and strengthen academic integrity.