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Submitting a complaint about a breach of academic integrity

Do you suspect fraud or plagiarism? If so, raise your concerns at an early stage with your supervisor or – if that is not possible – the academic integrity confidential adviser. If you are unable to resolve the matter with their help, you can submit a formal complaint to the Academic Integrity Committee. This page explains how to do so correctly.

Submitting a complaint to the Academic Integrity Committee

Have you decided to submit a complaint to the Academic Integrity Committee? If so, it is important to know that doing so will not have any adverse consequences for you or for others involved in the procedure, such as witnesses and experts. You can find more information in the Academic Integrity Complaints Regulations. The complaints procedure consists of the following steps:

1. You submit a complaint - You must submit your complaint to the Academic Integrity Committee in writing. The academic integrity confidential adviser can assist you with this and help you formulate and substantiate your complaint.

2. The committee assesses whether the complaint is admissible - The committee will inform you within three weeks whether it will consider your complaint. If your complaint is not taken up – for example, because there is insufficient substantiation or because the matter is already being handled by another body – you can explore alternative options together with the academic integrity confidential adviser.

3. An investigation is carried out - If your complaint is accepted, the committee will gather information, may call witnesses or experts, and will speak with those involved. If a committee member is personally involved in the matter, they will not participate in the investigation.

4. The committee issues its recommendation to the Executive Board - Once the investigation is complete, the committee submits a recommendation to the Executive Board (CvB). Within four weeks of receiving this recommendation, the Executive Board will inform both the complainant and the respondent in writing of its decision.

5. Publication of the recommendation- -Once the procedure has concluded, the committee’s recommendation and the Executive Board’s decision will be published anonymously. These can be found on the website of the umbrella organisation Universities of the Netherlands. You can read more in the Academic Integrity Complaints Regulations.

Overview of recommendations

The annual reports of the Academic Integrity Committee provide a brief overview of the complaints on which the committee has issued a recommendation to the Executive Board. View the annual report  for 2024 (PDF, 11 p.p.), the annual report  for 2021–2023 (PDF, 10 p.p.), the annual report for 2020 (PDF, 5 p.p.) and the annual report for 2019 (PDF, 6 p.p.). The reports are in Dutch.

Contact

The Academic Integrity Committee of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) consists of Prof. Dr A.M. Hol (Chair), Prof. Dr N. Zelcer and Prof. Dr F.J. Oort. You can contact the committee via wi-jz@uva.nl or by telephone on +31(0)20 525 2736.