Best Countries for Academic Integrity 2026: AMI Rankings

TL;DR

Top 10 lowest Prevalence scores in AMI v1.5: Canada 4.90, Australia 7.43, Germany 9.14, UK 11.41, Ireland 12.21, Singapore 15.34, Philippines 17.69, South Africa 19.30, New Zealand 21.29, Ukraine 22.46. Six are Q1; four are Q4 with low Prevalence but R-Score below Q1 threshold.

The top 10 (lowest Prevalence)

Six of the ten are in Q1 (Best in class). The four Q4 entries are countries with low Prevalence but R-Score below the Q1 threshold.

What the top 5 share

Mature institutional integrity infrastructure

Canada, Australia, Germany, UK, and Ireland all have:

• Clear institutional academic integrity codes
• Broad detection tool deployment
• Established penalty frameworks
• Active disciplinary culture

Anglophone legislative leadership

Three of the top five (Australia, UK, Ireland) have specific contract cheating bans:

• Ireland 2019
• Australia 2020
• UK 2022

These are the only three countries globally with such legislation. The bans drove Legislation sub-component scores to 100 in all three.

Strong research integrity frameworks

Canada (Tri-Council Policy), Germany (DFG Rules of Good Scientific Practice), UK (UKRIO), Ireland (NAIN coordination), Australia (NHMRC, ARC integrity frameworks). All five have mature research-side integrity infrastructure that complements the student misconduct framework.

Why Canada leads on Prevalence

Canada's P=4.90 is the lowest Prevalence in the entire AMI dataset. The drivers:

• D1 = 50 — moderate contract cheating demand, no maxed signals
• D2 = 44 — moderate AI submission demand
• D3 = 9 — among the lowest exam impersonation
• D4 = 40 — moderate plagiarism
• D6 = 22 — low Retraction Watch signal

Canada has no single extreme dimension score. The aggregate is the lowest in the dataset because all dimensions are consistently moderate-low.

The Q4 entries in the top 10

Four countries have low Prevalence but Q4 placement:

Germany (P=9.14, R=38.8)

The clearest case of "low Prevalence + sub-Q1 R-Score". German integrity infrastructure is strong (DFG framework, VroniPlag, broad detection) but the R-Score of 38.8 is below the Q1 threshold. The federal structure and absence of specific essay mill ban explain the gap.

Singapore (P=15.34, R=47.5)

Borderline Q1. NUS/NTU institutional infrastructure is mature. A specific essay mill ban would likely move Singapore into Q1.

Philippines (P=17.69, R=23.2)

Lower Prevalence reflects moderate domestic demand. The country's essay mill supply role affects destination markets more than its own scores. The R-Score is well below Q1 thresholds — substantial gap from Q1 status.

South Africa (P=19.30, R=30.0)

Strong African integrity infrastructure (CHE/HEQC framework). The R-Score is the strongest in Africa but still below Q1 thresholds. The gap is on Legislation and Disclosure sub-components.

The Ukraine entry

Ukraine (P=22.46, R=28.2, Q4) is in the top 10 lowest Prevalence — the lowest Eastern European Prevalence. The post-Maidan reform agenda and NAQA integrity framework drive the position. The wartime context affects ongoing measurement but the data shows substantial reform progress relative to other post-Soviet states.

What the bottom 10 (highest Prevalence) is missing

By comparison, the top 10 highest Prevalence countries (China 99.98, Colombia 77.38, etc.) lack:

• Specific contract cheating legislation
• Universal detection tool deployment
• Mandatory institutional disclosure
• Mature penalty frameworks applied consistently
• Established post-publication review culture

The gap between the best-10 and worst-10 R-Scores tells the policy story:

• Best 10 average R-Score: ~46
• Worst 10 average R-Score: ~17

That's roughly 3x difference in institutional response strength.

Sub-components in the top 10

Detection deployment in the top 10

Top-10 lowest-Prevalence countries cluster at high Detection sub-scores. Universal detection tool deployment is one of the more reliable correlates of low Prevalence.

Disclosure in the top 10

Strong Disclosure correlates with Q1 status. Countries in the top 10 that score below 30 on Disclosure (Philippines, Ukraine) are in Q4 not Q1.

What this means for policymakers

Low Prevalence does not require all R-Score components to be strong. The top 10 includes:

• Specific ban countries (Australia, UK, Ireland) — highest R
• Strong institutional framework countries (Canada, Netherlands, Germany)
• Strong regional infrastructure (NZ, Singapore)
• Reform-oriented countries (Ukraine, South Africa)

The path to low Prevalence runs through multiple plausible policy combinations. The common thread is sustained investment in some combination of Legislation, Detection, Disclosure, and Penalties.

Sources

• AMI v1.5 dataset and methodology
• Country-specific regulator documentation
• National integrity legislation (Australia 2020, Ireland 2019, UK 2022)
• Retraction Watch Database, Crossref/GitLab (2026)

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