Abstract

Background: While academics contribute to the development of society through all the subjects that they work on, they also have other important tasks to fulfill, such as being role models for their students and society. Therefore, the place of academic ethical values is a significant topic for academic nurses. Objective: The main objective of this research was to examine the attitudes of academic nurses toward academic ethics. Research design: This descriptive and cross-sectional research study was conducted between March and June 2017 in three different public universities in Turkey. The research sample consisted of 132 nurses in different professional positions at different universities who volunteered to participate in the study. The data were collected with an Information Form and an Academic Ethical Values Scale developed in Turkey. Ethical considerations: Ethical approval was granted by the institutions involved, and all participants provided informed verbal consent. Findings: The attitudes of academics participating in the research on academic ethical values were found to be highly positive. When the sub-dimensions of the scale were examined, the dimension with the highest average attitudinal score is found to be “values regarding the teaching process” and the dimension with the lowest average attitude score is found to be “values regarding society.” Depending on the participants’ academic position, it was determined that the total average score for the Academic Ethical Values Scale and the average scores of the “values regarding scientific research” and “values regarding the teaching process” sub-dimensions differed significantly. Conclusion: It was found that academic nurses had highly positive attitudes of toward academic ethical values. It can be argued that academics act more responsibly with regard to the ethical values of the teaching process than other areas. In addition, academics who are professors are most sensitive in their perception of academic ethical values.