Scientific literature thrives on commentary and dialog; no text can do without recourse to previous works, which form the indispensable basis of one's own work through critical reflection. In addition, generative AI tools can provide decisive assistance in the formulation, creation or translation of scientific texts. For academic texts in general, and therefore also for those written as part of a degree course, this requires that one's own work remains distinguishable from that of others.

According to §21 of the regulations of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Basel for the Bachelor's degree program and §25 of the regulations of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Basel for the Master's degree program, the following applies: If a candidate completes a performance assessment, the Master's thesis, or or attempts to influence a Bachelor's or Master's examination by improper means - in the case of written work and the Master's thesis in particular through the unauthorized, unmarked use of third-party texts while claiming authorship - the relevant performance assessment, Master's thesis or Bachelor's or Master's examination shall be deemed to have been failed or shall be assessed with a grade of 1.

Violations of scientific integrity, such as plagiarism, impersonation of authorship of other people's texts and unmarked texts/text passages created with AI can lead to exclusion from studies at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Basel.

For all written work, a declaration must be submitted and signed stating that the student has read the relevant paragraph of the regulations for the Bachelor's degree program or the regulations for the Master's degree program. If this declaration is missing, the student cannot claim that he or she was unaware of the consequences of breaches of scientific integrity. It is an integral part of the degree course that students learn the rules for ensuring scientific integrity and take into account the information provided by the departments.

Dealing with breaches of scientific integrity at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Lecturers are requested to report suspected cases of breaches of scientific integrity (e.g. unauthorized or unmarked use of AI, plagiarism, ghostwriting, etc.) to the Head of Student Administration. Students may be asked to help clarify the matter, e.g. by participating in an interview. The Examination Board discusses the cases and decides on how to proceed. If a breach of scientific integrity is confirmed by the examination board, a grade of 1 will be awarded for the corresponding performance and a warning will be issued. In serious cases or in the event of a repeat offense, the person concerned may be exmatriculated for one or more semesters or completely excluded from the course.