WHETHER STUDENTS SHOULD HAVE ACCESS TO PLAGIARISM CHECKS BEFORE SUBMISSION IS A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD
It sounds reasonable. Let students check their work for plagiarism before submitting. After all, who would not want to fix a careless mistake or learn from a similarity report? Some universities have embraced this approach, arguing it builds trust, transparency, and academic skills.
But reality is more complicated. After careful consideration, several project groups have recommended against student access to plagiarism control tools. Why? Because the reports are not always easy to interpret, especially for inexperienced users. Without robust support and training, students risk misunderstanding the results, potentially leading to false confidence or unnecessary anxiety. Worse, there is a risk that some might use the system to “game” the checker, iteratively editing their work to evade detection rather than learning genuine academic integrity.
At WISEflow, we share these concerns. Our priority is to ensure that plagiarism control is a meaningful part of the assessment process and not a box-ticking exercise or a tool for strategic evasion. Until we can guarantee that student-facing reports are truly educational and that institutions are equipped to support their use, we believe it isresponsible not to offer this feature.
THE INRELIABLE AND RISKY MIRAGE OF AI DETECTION
PROJECT GROUPS HAVE FOUND THAT..
.. such detectors often produce false positives, lack of transparency, and cannot be meaningfully audited or explained. This is not just a technical quibble;false accusations of misconduct can have serious consequences for students
RECENT RESEARCH ECHOES THESE CONCERNS..
A 2023 study in the International Journal for Educational Integrity found that AI detectors frequently misclassify both human and AI-generated text, especially when the writing is non-native or highly paraphrased (Joshi, 2023).
THAT IS WHY WISEflow ORIGINALITY DOES NOT..
.. offer AI detection. We refuse to compromise on fairness and transparency. Until the science catches up and it may never do so reliably. We will not risk students’ academic futures in a black box.
WHY TRANSLATION-BASED PLAGIARISM CHECKS ARE OBSOLETE AND SEMANTIC ANALYSIS IS THE FUTURE
Some plagiarism systems still rely on translating texts into a handful of major languages and then comparing them for similarity. This approach is, frankly, a relic. It is cumbersome, error-prone, and easily defeated by even modest paraphrasing. Testing has shown that such translation tools only catch the most trivial cases, those that a human marker would likely spot unaided. The cost is high, the benefit marginal, and the risk of missing sophisticated plagiarism is real.
Semantic analysis, by contrast, is the future. Instead of looking for literal matches or crude translations, semantic models (like those used in WISEflow Originality) understand meaning and can detect paraphrasing and conceptual similarity. This is not just marketing hype, recent advances in natural language processing have made it possible to identify when ideas, not just words, have been copied or reworked without proper attribution (see Alzahrani et al., 2012, ACM Computing Surveys).
THE CONCLUSION IS INTEGRITY OVER OPTICS
It is tempting to offer every feature under the sun, to reassure stakeholders that “something is being done”. But at WISEflow, we believe that integrity, of both process and technology, matters more. That is why we do not offer unreliable AI detection, why we do not give students access to confusing reports, and why we have moved beyond translation-based checks to true semantic analysis.
Academic integrity deserves more than quick fixes. It deserves tools and policies that are as rigorous and thoughtful as the scholarship they protect.
TAKE ACTION BY CHOOSING CONTROL, PRIVACY AND CLARITY WITH WISEflow ORIGINALITY
If your institution is ready to move beyond outdated approaches and embrace a more responsible solution, we would gladly talk about WISEflow Originality and our approach. In such conversation we could also tell more about how we provide advanced sharing options and put institutions in control, allowing you to decide exactly who can access data, documents and resources, ensuring higher compliance with privacy and GDPR requirements. Moreover, we could demo our embedded, user-friendly reporting which makes it easy for educators to interpret results and take informed action without confusion.
Let’s raise the bar for academic integrity together. Contact us to learn more about how WISEflow Originality can support your institution’s needs with transparency, security, and genuine innovation at the core.
REFERENCES
- Joshi, S. G. (2023). “Artificial Intelligence Detectors: Reliability and Risks.” International Journal for Educational Integrity.
- Alzahrani, S. M., Salim, N., & Abraham, A. (2012). “Understanding plagiarism linguistic patterns, textual features, and detection methods.” ACM Computing Surveys, 44(2), 1-38.
- Project group recommendations, November 2025.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Thinking about switching to WISEflow? Find answers to the most frequently asked questions about functionality, implementation, and why institutions choose UNIwise.
WISEflow Originality gives institutions full control over data sharing and access, ensuring GDPR compliance and transparency. Reports are embedded and user-friendly, helping educators interpret results accurately and take informed action.
Unlike outdated translation-based checks, semantic analysis detects conceptual similarity and paraphrasing, not just word-for-word matches. WISEflow Originality uses advanced semantic models to ensure robust and fair plagiarism detection.
WISEflow Originality combines advanced semantic analysis with transparent reporting and strict privacy controls. This approach ensures fair, reliable plagiarism detection while supporting GDPR compliance and educator-driven decision-making.