Introduction: plagiarism is one of the new phenomena in the academic environment in Iran, which includes different dimensions and types. So, its recognition and rooting are the problems of this research. Therefore, the main goal of the current research is to investigate the context and institutional and individual factors affecting the formation of plagiarism in Iran and provide policy solutions by decision-makers.
Methods: The current research method is descriptive qualitative. The statistical population of the research includes 15 university experts who were selected by judgment and snowball method. The data collection tool is a researcher-made questionnaire, which was completed during three stages (in a round-trip way) of indexing using the Delphi technique, and the validation of the conceptual model of the research was done using experts' opinions.
Results: The findings of the research showed that the factors affecting the occurrence of plagiarism in universities in Iran include two categories of individual and systemic components and 21 indicators related to these components. Individual factors related to the inherent personality characteristics of students such as lack of ideas, inability to manage time, lack of guilt, lack of some skills, and also some deficiencies in professors such as insufficient knowledge, lack of motivation among students, etc. Systemic or institutional factors are mostly due to incomplete and insufficient laws of universities, inappropriate training of these centers, and lack of attention to plagiarism and plagiarism.
Conclusion: In the end, based on both individual and systemic effective components, practical solutions have been presented to deal with plagiarism in universities.
