Imitation of research ideas is a common crime in academics. A relatively less reputed researcher has always the possibility that his/her research ideas might be imitated. If he/she submits a very good paper to one of the most celebrated journals of his/her discipline, the paper might be desk-rejected without citing any reason. After a couple months later on one good morning, the researcher might find that almost a similar paper has been published in a journal of similar rank and the day becomes a very bad indeed!
What should be the right strategy for a researcher having a relatively small size of network for protecting imitation of his/her research ideas from people possessing much larger network? Should he/she go for forging into a tacit agreement with the author / co / associate editor(s) of the journal knowing fully well that it is also a academic crime?
I believe that this is an issue of ethics, and in an ideal world should not happen! It would also be difficult to prove should this occur, so their is not easy answer, other than submitting your papers to very journal publishers, which should minimize this risk to a certain extent.
I still believe true scholarship cannot be imitated or challenged in long run.
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