Hi all, as I am studying the way science works I am interested in the functioning of open science practices. One of the issues sometimes raised with sharing research data and preprints before final publication is that it bears the danger of being scooped, i.e. someone else publishes something based on your data or ideas, before you do. Supposedly this could mean that you cannot publish your manuscript anymore because journals are now refusing it pointing at the fact that comparable ideas have already been published. I am looking for real stories from researchers that have experienced this. Have you? If so please respond and share what happened. That information can be used to ameliorate the circumstances in which we are trying to find publication opportunities. Thanks!
This hasn't happened to me - not in research terms anyway! But you might find this blogpost helpful: http://citingbytes.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/why-data-citation-is-important-personal.html
Thanks. Ah, from Sarah. Actually it's also a great example of data re-use, albeit without data-citation.
I was scooped by a grant-making organization. It seems that some people have no imagination or little self control.
Hi Marcie Zinn thanks for that. Would you be wiling to elaborate a bit on that? When was it, in what field? How did you find out? Was it via a grant that was eventually awarded to you? Did you afterwards encounter problems publishing?
Perhaps this is possible when the handling of manuscripts before they are accepted and finally published takes a long time? How often unpublished manuscripts are used as a basis for others to conduct their own research?
In theory that is possible, but do you perhaps know of any proven or suspected concrete examples?
How can you quantify scooping as a behaviour? How to get access to the mental states of those that scoop, e.g. to get hints how an idea is formed and subsequently used? I thinking scooping as a behaviour is difficult to quantify. The only approach you can have is to compare the timing of the appearance of ideas amongst different research teams working on the same problem, but then what about the underlying mechanisms involved (e.g. people do not beielve in telepathy for instance)? You also could ask all scientists: did you scoop at least once, did you scoop more than once, etc. Do you think you will have a reliable picture of scooping with this approach?
Computer systems have been designed to scoop, e.g. for so-called security reasons?
It is theft, plain and simple. I also had an article stolen from me as first author; the last author stole it and published it as his own.
Marcie Zinn
Hi Marcie, thanks voor your reply! Would you care elborating on this a bit? When it was, what kind of research, how it impeded you in publishing your results? Thanks!
Jeroen
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