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Academic integrity: submitting a complaint

Possible violations of academic integrity may require different solutions depending on the specific situation.

Find a solution with the parties involved

  • Work together
  • Admit mistakes
  • Be aware of power positions

Ask a confidential adviser for advice

Contact one of the confidential advisers for academic integrity and ask to discuss the matter. They can advise you, mediate between you and other parties and help you decide whether or not you wish to submit a complaint. The confidential advisers will never take any action without discussing this with you first and getting your consent.

Submit a complaint to the Academic Integrity Committee

If your issue has not been resolved after talking to the confidential adviser, you can submit a complaint to the Academic Integrity Committee. The confidential adviser may help you prepare the complaint. The committee will investigate whether the complaint can be taken into consideration. They will issue a decision on this within three weeks of receiving the complaint. If the committee decides the complaint can be taken into consideration, it will start its investigation.

  • Investigation of the complaint
    • Among other things, the comittee investigates whether the suspected violation took place too long ago or whether a complaint has already been taken into consideration in the past and declared unfounded.
    • If one of the members of the committee is involved with persons or facts to which the complaint relates, the member in question will not take part in the investigation.
    • The committee is authorised to gather information from all UvA bodies and staff and can call witnesses and experts. 
  • The committee issues a recommendation
    • After concluding its investigation the commitee will issue its recommendation to the Executive Board.
    • Withing four weeks of receiving the complaint, the Executive Board will take a decision in the form of a provisional judgement. All parties concerned (the complainant and the party suspected of a violation) will be informed of the decision.
    • The recommendation and judgement will be published on the website of the umbrella organisation Universitites of the Netherlands in anonymised form.