Fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism: The major threats to social research enterprise in Nigeria

Fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism (FFP) pose significant threats to the integrity and efficacy of social research in Nigeria. As a nation characterized by diverse socio-cultural and economic landscapes, high-quality social research is essential for informed policy-making, academic advancement, and societal development. This study explored the prevalence, underlying causes, and consequences of FFP, and also evaluating existing measures and challenges for addressing fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism within Nigerian social research enterprise. It employs the secondary data collection approach in the collection of its needed data. The findings reveal a notable prevalence of FFP, driven primarily by the "publish or perish" culture, inadequate ethics training, and weak institutional oversight. The consequences of FFP are multifaceted, including erosion of research integrity, impedes academic advancement and knowledge acquisition, deterioration of public confidence in research institutions, psychological effects on researchers and students, and economic implications. Ethical codes of research and institutional protocols, creation of office research integrity, software for plagiarism detection, training and capacity development, legal and institutional penalties, and global partnerships and norms were found to be the existing measures and policies for mitigating FFP in Nigeria.  These existing measures and policies were obstructed by insufficient implementations, insufficient awareness and education regarding research ethics, institutional and structural limitations, publication pressure and professional progression, insufficient legal and regulatory framework, cultural influences and the normalization of misconduct, restricted access to plagiarism detection instruments, and significance global cooperation. Based on these insights, the study recommends strengthening ethical training programs, enhancing institutional oversight, fostering a culture of integrity, leveraging advanced technological tools, and protecting whistleblowers to effectively reduce FFP in Nigerian social research.