Frequently Asked Questions about the Portal

To ask a question or share a concern, use the Get Support option in the menu. You will be asked to provide a title and a brief description of your situation, and to select one or more categories that best match your case. If you wish, you can also choose one or more mentors to support you. All submissions are private by default and visible only to our mentors and Portal admin.

Yes. However, we advise that people facing an issue come forward themselves with their requests for help. It will make the communication with mentors easier and smoother. All submitted requests are private by default and only visible to our mentors and admins.

We cannot promise to solve your problem. However, your request will be carefully reviewed by our mentors, who will provide advice based on your situation. All genuine requests receive a response.

You can submit a question without being registered on the Portal. However, after submitting your question, you receive an automatic email asking you to register. The registration is necessary to view the private answers from the mentors and to engage in a conversation with them.

If you wish to withdraw your question after submitting it or the entire conversation with the mentors, please email us at victims@academicintegrity.eu. The admin will process your request as soon as possible, typically within several working days.

Anyone who has been unfairly disadvantaged by misconduct or questionable practice in research or education may ask a question or share their situation to obtain support from our mentors. We also support and welcome requests from integrity/ethics officers, publishers and other stakeholders.

Yes. Anyone can ask a question or share their problem to obtain support from our mentors. We acknowledge victims as anyone who has seen their work plagiarised, has suffered from offensive behaviour/bullying/threats, has been unfairly accused of unethical actions, or was denied credit in a publication, among others.

Your rights should be described in your institution’s Code of Ethics, Academic Integrity Policies, Reporting Misconduct, or similar documents. Check the relevant documents to find out what options you have. Try to find someone (e.g. integrity/ethics officer, ombudsperson, etc.) at your institution whose responsibility is to deal with cases of misconduct or questionable practices in research or education. If you prefer a more specific answer or to discuss your options in details, please contact us privately.

No. Our mentors are only able to provide quidance and advise you on the actions you should take, according to the nature of your situation. Our mentors do not provide legal advice, nor do they have the power to contact or influence the abusers, institutions or other stakeholders related to your issue.

Our team of mentors are academics and experts from the European Network for Academic Integrity (ENAI) and the Erasmus+ FAITH (Facing Academic Integrity Threats) project, who volunteer to support and advise people on their problems. All mentors are experts in relevant aspects of academic and research integrity (e.g. plagiarism, publication ethics, data manipulation, etc.). You may see the expertise of individual members in their profiles.

You are welcome to indicate the preferred mentor(s) when submitting your request. You may indicate the name of one or more mentors. If the mentors are available, they will contact you within seven days through the Portal.

When you submit a question, the selected mentors are invited to confirm their availability within two days. If no mentors are pre-selected, the Portal administrator will assign suitable mentors based on the nature of your question. This matching process may take several days. Once the mentors are confirmed, they have up to seven days to provide a response.

When a mentor replies, you will receive a notification email. You can view the response and continue the conversation in the Mentors’ Responses section of the Portal. As notification emails may occasionally be missed, you can also log in and check the Mentors’ Responses if you feel the response is taking longer than expected.

Yes. All requests and subsequent conversations are private by default and are only visible to our mentors and admins, who are bound by confidentiality agreements. We treat all information you share as confidential. You can find more details in our Privacy Model.

When submitting a request, the username you provided when you created your account will be private and only visible to our mentors. Once logged in, you may edit your profile and change your username, if you wish.

We ask for your email so we can contact you and share the response from our mentors. Without it, we would not be able to communicate with you. You will be asked to register on the Portal to access your question and the replies in a secure, private space.

Mentors are experts in academic and research integrity. If you are interested in becoming a mentor, please contact us by email at victims@academicintegrity.eu and we will share more information about the role and requirements. Candidates are selected by a panel of existing mentors.

Yes. We welcome anyone to reply, comment or share their experiences and opinions on public cases, and on the Stories and Blog posts. When submitting your reply or comment, it will be private and pending admin approval. Inappropriate replies or comments will be disregarded.