CULTIVATING ETHICAL INFORMATION PRACTICES IN PAKISTAN’S AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

Investigating the ethical dimensions of information literacy (IL), this study explores the competencies of 1,122 agriculture students in Pakistan, focusing on their ability to ethically access, attribute, and use information in a digital academic environment. The students were from the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad and the University of Agriculture, Peshawar. Results demonstrate critical gaps: 78.5% of students lacked skills for ethical use of information, 70.5% were unfamiliar with citation practices, and 61% misunderstood plagiarism, aligning with Bhatti’s (2010) earlier findings on academic misconduct. Although 83.4% used the internet daily, only 33.7% accessed Higher Education Commission (HEC) digital libraries, underscoring underutilization of scholarly resources. This research advocates transformative pedagogy integrating copyright education and scenario-based IL training as catalysts for responsible scholarship and academic integrity in digital agriculture.

Information Literacy, Ethical Use, Plagiarism Awareness, Digital Agriculture, Academic Integrity, Pakistani Universities, Citation Practices.