{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,4]],"date-time":"2026-08-04T23:21:28Z","timestamp":1785885688223,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,31]],"date-time":"2026-01-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769817600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":30,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,1]],"date-time":"2026-01-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1767225600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/doi.wiley.com\/10.1002\/tdm_license_1.1"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["ietresearch.onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["IET Blockchain"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>The generation and verification of academic credentials, particularly diplomas, is crucial for the secure functioning, enhanced legitimacy and confidentiality of higher education institutions (HEIs). Digitising the internal services of HEIs is of great importance, as it mitigates the potential abuse of diplomas and other important documents. The prevalence of forgery attempts highlights the need for robust verification methods. In this regard, blockchain technology can be considered as a solution due to its capability to ensure the immutability, decentralisation, security and transparency of all documents stored on the blockchain network or storage. In this paper, we aim to move from concept to practical implementation of a blockchain\u2010based framework for generating and verifying diplomas, named Diploma Integrity Authentication Record (DIAR), which, in addition to the digitalisation of diplomas and academic documents, also enables their fast, secure, and cost\u2010effective verification. Through the paper, we describe in detail the process of practical implementation of the DIAR framework, presenting the smart contract for generating and verifying diplomas, the process of encrypting and storing diplomas as non\u2010fungible tokens on the blockchain network or storage. At the same time, the challenges of practical implementation are also described, which are predominantly related to the scarcity of blockchain solutions for generating and verifying diplomas in HEIs. Significant attention and emphasis are placed on the legal matters pertaining to the implementation and safeguarding of students' identification and data privacy.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1049\/blc2.70030","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,31]],"date-time":"2026-01-31T11:08:01Z","timestamp":1769857681000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["From Concept to Practice: A Blockchain\u2010Based Solution for Secure and Efficient Academic Credentials in Higher Education"],"prefix":"10.1049","volume":"6","author":[{"given":"Avni","family":"Rustemi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Informatics Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences Tetovo University  Tetovo N. Macedonia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7520-695X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fisnik","family":"Dalipi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Informatics Faculty of Technology Linnaeus University  Kalmar Sweden"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"265","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_12_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2023.3289598"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s42452\u2010024\u201005984\u20101"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s10639\u2010024\u201012493\u20106"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_5_1","first-page":"245","volume-title":"Machine Learning and the Internet of Things in Education. Studies in Computational Intelligence","author":"Salama R.","year":"2023"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2019.2911031"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_7_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s13369\u2010024\u201009065\u20108"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"A. M.San N.Chotikakamthorn andC.Sathitwiriyawong \u201cBlockchain\u2010Based Learning Credential Verification System With Recipient Privacy Control \u201d in2019 IEEE International Conference on Engineering Technology and Education (TALE) (IEEE 2019) 1\u20135 https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1109\/TALE48000.2019.9225878.","DOI":"10.1109\/TALE48000.2019.9225878"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/TCSS.2022.3188453"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.simpat.2022.102642"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_11_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s42979\u2010023\u201002060\u20100"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_12_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s10586\u2010024\u201004469\u20105"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_13_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7717\/peerj\u2010cs.266"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_14_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"H.Saidi N.Labraoui S.Benfriha andZ.Houhamdi \u201cDVD: Decentralized Verification of Diplomas in Smart Universities \u201d in24th International Arab Conference on Information Technology (ACIT) (IEEE 2023) 1\u20137 https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1109\/ACIT58888.2023.10453893.","DOI":"10.1109\/ACIT58888.2023.10453893"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_15_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s12065\u2010022\u201000812\u20100"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_16_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"S.NarongsakandS.Nonsiri \u201cDigital Token: Token\u2010Based Degree Certificates With Credit Transfer System \u201d in8th International Conference on Business and Industrial Research (ICBIR) (IEEE 2023) 1312\u20131317 https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1109\/ICBIR57571.2023.10147481.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICBIR57571.2023.10147481"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_17_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"D. 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