Odongo, Stephen OderaNjoroge, George GitauNjoroge, Rose Wambui2025-06-092025-06-092025-06Odongo, S., Njoroge, G., & Njoroge, R. (2025). Navigating Academic Integrity: Postgraduate Students’ Awareness of Plagiarism and the Library’s Preventive Role. Eastern Africa Journal of Contemporary Research, 5(1), 95–106. Retrieved from https://eajcr.org/index.php/eajcr/article/view/72https://eajcr.org/index.php/eajcr/article/view/72https://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/30152ArticleAcademic integrity forms the cornerstone of ethical scholarship, ensuring the credibility and trustworthiness of the academic endeavor. Academic dishonesty encompasses a range of behaviors, including plagiarism, cheating, fabricating data, and unauthorized collaboration. The study therefore focused on plagiarism as a form of academic dishonesty. Plagiarism takes various forms, ranging from verbatim copying without proper citation to subtle paraphrasing without acknowledging the original source. The study examines the relationship between postgraduate students' awareness of plagiarism and academic integrity and investigates the role of academic libraries in deterring plagiarism and promoting academic integrity among postgraduate students in Kenyan universities. The study adopted a convergent mixed-methods design with both quantitative and qualitative data. It targeted postgraduate students (n=678) and library staff (n=3) in three public universities selected based on their postgraduate enrollment figures. The study found a significant disconnect between students' self-perceived understanding of plagiarism and their actual application of academic integrity principles. The library plays a crucial role in generating research trust and academic integrity among postgraduate students, though challenges persist in reaching all students effectively. The study concludes that comprehensive, skill-based interventions integrated throughout the curriculum are needed to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application of academic integrity principles.enArticle