Spanish contract cheating website marketing through search engine advertisements

Abstract

This article analyses the advertisements inserted in search engines of Spanish academic services websites in 2018 and 2019. Content analysis of these advertisements, conducted through the use of Semrush (Search Engine Optimization SEO and Search Engine Marketing SEM audit platform), shows that a large number of platforms offer to write academic essays for students (mostly bachelor’s and master's dissertations). This implies fraud in the evaluation and behaviour contrary to the principles of academic integrity. Law, psychology, economics, education and engineering are the degrees that appear in the advertisements of a great number of platforms. Slogans and information placed by these platforms primarily focus on extolling the quality and originality of the essays and pointing out the confidentiality, speed, professionalism and low cost of the service offered. The results provide evidence of the need to establish legal limits on advertising that implies a clear incitement to fraud in academic evaluations. In addition, the findings highlight the need to improve awareness among students that emphasises the dimension of the ethical use of information and opens a field of study to which more attention should be devoted from a research perspective and in academic policies.

Keywords:

• Higher education
• online advertisement
• academic integrity
• contract cheating

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest is reported.

Additional information

Funding

This research (Reference: RTI2018-098314-B-I00) has been funded and supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCI), the National Research Agency (AEI) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Notes on contributors

Rubén Comas-Forgas

Rubén Comas-Forgas holds an European PhD. in Science Education from the University of the Balearic Islands (2009). He has been a visiting researcher at several international centers, among which are: University of East Anglia (UK), Liverpool John Moores Univerity (UK), Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences (Greece), Autonomous University of Yucatan (Mexico).

Jaume Sureda-Negre

Jaume Sureda Negre holds a Ph.D. in pedagogy. He has held various academic management positions (Director of the Institute of Educational Sciences, Vice Chancellor and currently is Director of the Department of Applied Pedagogy and Educational Psychology). The areas of lecturing and research expertise which has worked in recent years are information literacy, academic integrity and environmental education, topics on which he has published numerous works.

Mercè Morey-López

Mercè Morey-López holds a Ph.D. in Education. Teaches in the Degree in Social Work (Documentation and Scientific Communication) and the Degree of Social Education (Planning Intervention in the Field of Social Education and Intercultural Education, Social Intervention and Immigration).