Does contract cheating matter for the research community? Is this an issue for PhD students? Is it possible to conduct research into contract cheating? These slides, presented for the European Network for Academic Integrity Summer School 2021, consider some of the main research findings in the field and provide ideas of emerging challenges for researchers to investigate.

1. Contract Cheating: An
Introduction for the
Research Active
Dr Thomas Lancaster| Imperial College London
http://www.thomaslancaster.co.uk
Twitter: @DrLancaster
ENAI Summer School 2021
Lithuanian Centre
for Social Sciences

2. Dr Thomas Lancaster
• Senior Teaching Fellow in
Computing
• Academic Integrity Researcher
• Published the first research
paper on contract cheating with
Robert Clarke (June 2006)
2

3. About Contract Cheating
3

4. Question
4
What does contract
cheating mean to you
as a researcher?

5. Contract Cheating
5
Contract cheating is a form of academic misconduct
when a person uses an undeclared and/or unauthorized
third party to assist them to produce work for academic
credit or progression, whether or not payment or other
favour is involved
Definition from ENAI Addressing Contract Cheating Working Group

6. Question
6
Can researchers
commit contract
cheating?

7. Contract Cheating
7
Contract cheating is a form of academic misconduct
when a person uses an undeclared and/or unauthorized
third party to assist them to produce work for academic
credit or progression, whether or not payment or other
favour is involved

8. 8
An example from the
presentation Benjamin
Dent and I gave at
#ECAIP2021 last
week…

9. 9
From Fiverr.com (June 2021)

10. Question
10
Is there anything wrong
with contract cheating?

11. Research Into Contract
Cheating
11

12. Papers By Year With “Contract
Cheating” In The Title
1
2
4
2
0
2
5
1
3
2 2
17
9
22
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
12

13. The First Study
(Based on 912 cases from March 2004 to October
2005 with identifiable universities)
• Students, on average,
had posted between 4
and 7 requests for
assignments
Clarke, R. and Lancaster, T., 2006, June. Eliminating the successor to plagiarism?
Identifying the usage of contract cheating sites. Proceedings of 2nd international
plagiarism conference (pp. 19-21). Northumbria Learning Press.
13

14. Contract Cheating Is Common
• Newton reviewed sources discussing surveys of
students completed between 2014 and 2018
• Newton found 15.7% of students said they would
contract cheat (which he equated to 31 million
students globally)
Newton, P.M., 2018, August. How common is commercial contract cheating
in higher education and is it increasing? A systematic review. In Frontiers in
Education (Vol. 3, p. 67). Frontiers.
14

15. Students Will Buy Essays
Rigby, D., Burton, M., Balcombe, K., Bateman, I. and Mulatu, A.,
2015. Contract cheating & the market in essays. Journal of
Economic Behavior & Organization, 111, pp.23-37.
• Rigby et al found that half of all students would
be willing to buy essays, given the right risk-
reward ratio
15

16. Contract Cheating is Habitual
• 62.5% of students who said they had engaged in
contract cheating, had done so more than once.
16
Curtis, G.J. and Clare, J., (2017). How Prevalent is Contract Cheating and
to What Extent are Students Repeat Offenders?. Journal of Academic
Ethics, 15(2), pp.115-124.

17. Direct Contract Cheating Is
Affordable
• More common micro-outsourcing price point
currently $11.46 USD for a 2000 word essay
• Most writers from Kenya, Pakistan and Nigeria
Lancaster, T., 2020. Commercial contract cheating provision
through micro-outsourcing web sites. International Journal for
Educational Integrity, 16(1), pp.1-14.
17

18. Students Will Pay More In
Certain Circumstances
• Students on Twitter willing to pay $66.64 for a
2000 word essay.
• Highest demand for cross-discipline mathematics
• Students willing to pay a premium for someone to
take an examination for them
Amigud, A. and Lancaster, T., 2020. I will pay someone to do my assignment: an
analysis of market demand for contract cheating services on twitter. Assessment &
Evaluation in Higher Education, 45(4), pp.541-553.
18

19. Most Visible Contract Cheating
Requests Made By Business and
Computing Students
Lancaster, T., 2020. Academic Discipline Integration by Contract Cheating
Services and Essay Mills. Journal of Academic Ethics, pp.1-13.
Ranking Discipline
1 Business
2 Computing
3 Health/Medicine/Nursing/Psychology
4 History/Philosophy
5 Law
6 Social Studies
7 Accounting/Finance
8 Humanities
9 Mathematics
10 Science/Applied Science
19

20. The Work Might (Or Might Not Be) Good
Fail Pass Credit Distinction
Undergraduate 2 7 3 1
Postgraduate 6 3 2 2
Lines, L., 2016. Ghostwriters guaranteeing grades? The quality of online ghostwriting services
available to tertiary students in Australia. Teaching in Higher Education, 21(8), pp.889-914.
Based on 26 history essays
20

21. Blackmail Is A Risk
• From a survey of 587 students in Australia, some
had personal experience of blackmail attempts
• 90% of students claimed to be unaware of the
risk of blackmail.
Yorke, J., Sefcik, L. and Veeran-Colton, T., 2020. Contract cheating and
blackmail: a risky business?. Studies in Higher Education, pp.1-14.
21

22. Doctoral Students Targeted
Sites use persuasive language to encourage doctoral
students to buy from them
22
Kelly, A. and Stevenson, K.J., 2021. Students Pay the Price: Doctoral
Candidates are Targeted by Contract Cheating Websites. International
Journal of Doctoral Studies, 16, pp.363-377.
Prey on individuals trying to
balance work and their
personal life
Focus on the complexity of
doctoral academic writing
Encourage students to
question their own
competence
Present this as a way for
students to grow their
reputation and develop their
career

23. Research Opportunities
23

24. One Viewpoint
• Institutional support
• Assessment
• Teaching and learning
• Academic integrity strategy
• Student behaviour modification
• Student awareness and motivation
24
Kamrul Ahsan, Suraiyah Akbar & Booi Kam (2021) Contract cheating in higher
education: a systematic literature review and future research agenda, Assessment
& Evaluation in Higher Education, DOI: 10.1080/02602938.2021.1931660
But what does this
really tell us?

25. Emerging Challenges
Artificial intelligence writing
systems
Automated assessment
marking
Outdated and ineffective
processes
The tutoring market
Translation and essay
spinning software
File sharing sites
Societal concerns
about surveillance
25

26. Closing Question
26
What are the real
opportunities?

27. For More Information…
27

28. Connect with Dr
Thomas Lancaster
Email: thomas@thomaslancaster.co.uk
Website: http://thomaslancaster.co.uk
Blog: http://thomaslancaster.co.uk/blog
LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/thomaslancaster
Twitter: @DrLancaster
Slide Archive:
http://www.slideshare.net/ThomasLancaster