How Common is Cheating in Online Exams and did it Increase During the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Systematic Review

In short

Across pooled survey studies, the authors report that 44.7% of students admitted cheating in online exams, 29.9% before COVID-19 and 54.7% during it, though the evidence has weaknesses.

What it looked at

A systematic review of survey research: 25 samples from 19 studies, with 4672 participants in total, going back to 2012. It compared self-reported online exam cheating before and during COVID-19 and looked at reasons and methods.

What it means for teaching

Opportunity is the reason students most often gave, but weak sampling means the figures need careful reading before anyone acts on them.

Limits

Self-reports, mostly from convenience samples of modest size, with response rates often unclear and no check on representativeness. The authors think under-reporting is likely, and the pandemic-period samples were more varied.

Cited 189 times by other papers, as counted by OpenAlex in November 2026. A count measures attention, not quality.