The Queen’s University Senate Policy on Academic Integrity states that students, faculty, and staff have responsibilities to support and uphold the fundamental values of academic integrity: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility and courage. Revisions to the Senate Policy identify grounds for departures from academic integrity with consideration for the risks to academic integrity posed by generative artificial intelligence (AI). These grounds can include:
▪ Plagiarism: Plagiarism involves presenting ideas, words or work, created by others or by technological assistance, as if they are one’s own or without proper attribution/citation. Self-plagiarism is also a departure from academic integrity. Self-plagiarism refers to the practice of submitting the same work, in whole or in part, for credit in two or more courses, or in the same course more than once, without the prior written permission of the instructor. Self-plagiarism can also include presenting one’s own previously published work as though it were new.
▪ Unauthorized Content Generation: Unauthorized content generation is the production of academic work, in whole or in part, for academic credit, progression, or award, using unapproved or undeclared human or technological assistance.
▪ Use of Unauthorized Materials: Use of unauthorized materials involves using or possessing unauthorized materials or obtaining unauthorized assistance in any academic examination or test, or in connection with any other form of academic work.
▪ Deception: Deception involves misrepresenting the accuracy of information, the authenticity of a document, one’s self, one’s work, or one’s relation to the University. The School of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs in consultation with graduate programs and university partners provide the following guidelines to support graduate students and supervisors in upholding academic integrity when using artificial intelligence (AI) in graduate research including graduate theses, dissertations, major research projects, research creation projects, comprehensive examinations, graduate coursework, and other graduate student research activities.
The use of generative AI may support graduate research activities and innovations in scholarship across disciplines. Accordingly, the use of generative AI tools is permitted in the context of graduate research across stages of the research lifecycle (e.g., searching, designing, outlining, drafting, analyzing, writing, audio/visual content production, or editing) and will not be considered a departure from academic integrity under the following conditions:
(a) Authorized Use: Graduate students, supervisors, and where appropriate committee members agree, in advance, on the use of any AI tools in the design, production, and representation of research or research creation activities. Students who plan to use generative AI tools in their research or writing of their thesis must, in advance, document approval for the planned uses of AI tools from their supervisor(s) and/or supervisory committee. In graduate coursework, the same principle of authorized use applies to the use of AI tools; all graduate instructors should clearly indicate the expectations for AI use within coursework on their course syllabi.
(b) Transparent Use: In alignment with disciplinary norms, graduate students must provide explicit citation, a descriptive statement on AI use, and where appropriate artifacts of AI-outputs used in research and/or writing.
(c) Originality in the Application and Communication of Knowledge: Graduate student research must reflect their own original contribution to knowledge, in alignment with degree level expectations (i.e., masters: originality in the application of knowledge; doctorate: ability to produce original research).
Unauthorized use of generative AI tools in graduate student research at Queen’s University may be considered a breach of academic integrity and subject to investigation and sanctioning. All graduate students and supervisors are expected to uphold academic integrity in their research, which includes transparent, authorized, and ethical uses of AI tools throughout the research lifecycle.
Given the disciplinary considerations of AI-use in research, faculties and graduate programs may have specific requirements or considerations for using generative AI in graduate research. Graduate units may issue additional guidance outlining discipline-specific uses of AI in research and coursework. To learn more about Queen’s academic integrity policy and practice visit the Academic Integrity website and take the Academic Integrity Module.