F. O. OLIHA

The integrity of academic credentials has become a critical issue, especially in developing countries like Nigeria, where cases of certificate forgery and delays in transcript generation have been on the rise. In response to this credential pandemic, this study projects a service-oriented model – DocVerify for academic certificate verification within Nigerian academic institutions. A design science research methodology was adopted, combining the service-oriented architecture modelling language and the software-oriented heterogeneous architecture and platforms engineering approach.

The importance of institutional repositories in upholding academic integrity has been explored in this study to bridge the gap between intellectual content and ethical conduct in the pursuit of scholarly reputation by major Nigerian universities. Through a case based methodology, an i-Repo architecture abstracting institutional repository services was proposed with mechanisms that deter academic misconduct and promote a culture of originality in academic content, using the University of Benin as a case study.