To Be or Not to Be: AI-Assisted Writing, Plagiarism and Academic Integrity in Higher Education

Authors

Jelena Andreja Radaković
University of Belgrade, Faculty of Organizational Sciences
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8771-8215
Nataša Petrović
University of Belgrade, Faculty of Organizational Sciences
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9576-7102
Marko Ćirović
University of Belgrade, Faculty of Organizational Sciences
Nemanja Milenković
University of Belgrade, Faculty of Organizational Sciences

Synopsis

AI has already changed higher education in very concrete ways – both in how teachers design and deliver their courses and in how students learn, write, and prepare assignments. Along with these changes, questions about academic integrity have become much harder to ignore. Many students are still unsure what counts as misconduct in an AI-assisted context, and where the line is between legitimate support and plagiarism. With that in mind, we conducted a pilot study to explore how often students use ChatGPT, what they mainly use it for, how they understand plagiarism, and whether their AI use is linked to academically dishonest behaviour. We also paid particular attention to environmental courses, where AI tools are increasingly used to explain concepts, summarize materials, and support project work. The study involved undergraduate and master’s students from the University of Belgrade – Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Serbia, using an online questionnaire distributed via the 1KA platform during the 2025/2026 winter semester. Findings highlight the need for further research on the role of educators in guiding AI use, addressing digital inequality, ensuring data privacy, and developing instructional frameworks that integrate AI while promoting academic integrity.

Author Biographies

Jelena Andreja Radaković, University of Belgrade, Faculty of Organizational Sciences

Jelena Andreja Radaković, PhD, is a Research Assistant at the University of Belgrade – Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Serbia. She graduated from the University of Belgrade and holds a PhD in Environmental Management and Operational Research. Her research interests include sustainability and the SDGs, environmental risk management, natural hazard risk management, and flood risk management. She has published more than 58 scientific papers and has received over 266 citations according to Google Scholar. She is currently engaged in the Erasmus+ KA220-HED project “SuMoS – Strengthening the ecosystem for sustainable student mobility” (Cooperation partnerships in higher education). 

Belgrade, Serbia. E-mail: jelenaandreja.radakovic@fon.bg.ac.rs

Nataša Petrović, University of Belgrade, Faculty of Organizational Sciences

Nataša Petrović, PhD, is a Full Professor at the University of Belgrade – Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Serbia. She graduated from the University of Belgrade and holds a PhD in Environmental Management. Her research interests include environmental management, sustainability and the SDGs, environmental risk management, medical waste management, and the circular economy. She has published more than 155 scientific papers and has received over 1,349 citations according to Google Scholar. She is currently involved in the Erasmus+ KA220-HED project “SuMoS – Strengthening the ecosystem for sustainable student mobility” (Cooperation partnerships in higher education). 

Belgrade, Serbia. E-mail: natasa.petrovic@fon.bg.ac.rs

Marko Ćirović, University of Belgrade, Faculty of Organizational Sciences

Marko Ćirović, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the University of Belgrade – Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Serbia. He graduated from the University of Belgrade and holds a PhD in Environmental Management. His area of research interests are environmental management, sustainability and the SDGs, green marketing, and the circular economy. He has published more than xx scientific papers and has received over 381 citations according to Google Scholar. He is currently engaged in the Erasmus+ KA220-HED project “SuMoS – Strengthening the ecosystem for sustainable student mobility” (Cooperation partnerships in higher education). 

Belgrade, Serbia. E-mail: marko.cirovic@fon.bg.ac.rs

Nemanja Milenković, University of Belgrade, Faculty of Organizational Sciences

Nemanja Milenković, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the University of Belgrade – Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Serbia. He graduated from the University of Belgrade and holds a PhD in Computational statistics. His research interests include computational statistics, probability theory, sustainability and the SDGs. He has published more than 80 scientific papers and has received over 488 citations according to Google Scholar. 

Belgrade, Serbia. E-mail: nemanja.milenkovic@fon.bg.ac.rs

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Published

March 17, 2026

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Radaković, J. A., Petrović, N., Ćirović, M., & Milenković, N. (2026). To Be or Not to Be: AI-Assisted Writing, Plagiarism and Academic Integrity in Higher Education. In P. Šprajc, D. Maletič, N. Petrović, I. Iztok, A. Škraba, D. Tomić, & A. Žnidaršič Mohorič (Eds.), & (Ed.), 45th International Conference on Organizational Science Development: Organization and the Longevity Society, Conference Proceedings (Vols. 45., pp. 727-740). University of Maribor Press. https://doi.org/10.18690/um.fov.3.2026.53