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Animal Ethics Biosafety Human Research Ethics Research Integrity

How to protect research ideas as a junior scientist – Nature (Ijeoma Opara | November 2022)

Posted by Connar Allen in Research Integrity on December 9, 2022
Keywords: Collaborative research, Good practice, Research results, Researcher responsibilities

The Linked Original Item was Posted On November 17, 2022

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Ijeoma Opara learnt some hard lessons after getting scooped in a grant application.

I use community-based participatory research methods to work with youth Black children and their families on issues such as substance use and HIV prevention. When I was applying for my first grant in 2019, I spoke to many mentors, community members and non-academic friends — and basically anyone else who would listen to my ideas. I took two months to write the proposal, much improved by their advice and feedback, and received funding the following year.

It is a problem we hear far too often.  Junior researchers alegging that their good ideas, theories and tools have been stolen by supervisors, reviewers or by their peers.  We are also often asked by HDR candidates and early career researchers how to protect their creations.  This useful piece that appeared in Nature discusses some strategies to protect your precious creations.  In our experience, protecting your IP can be especially difficult in some disciplines and with qualitative work.

In 2020, I planned to apply for another grant, in response to a request from a federal funding agency for proposals investigating protective factors against substance use in young people in minority ethnic groups. As in my previous grant-writing journey, I shared my idea with anyone who would listen, but after realizing that I didn’t have the capacity to take on the project, I had decided to wait a couple of months before applying. I thought I had time because the closing date for grant applications was a few years later.

To my surprise, earlier this year, I saw a multimillion-dollar grant awarded to someone whom I didn’t know professionally, for aims that looked almost identical to mine. I was shocked and upset — but felt it might have been partly my fault for sharing my ideas too early. I had sent my project to many people, including senior scholars whom I didn’t really know, after colleagues had suggested that I contact them. Of course, it is possible that this person came up with the idea on their own — although, personally, I doubt it.

Why stealing ideas does not advance science

Scientists can and should be inspired by the work of others. Our overall goal should be to make an impact. But there is a big, definable difference between being inspired and treating someone’s ideas as your own.

How to protect research ideas as a junior scientist
Ijeoma Opara learnt some hard lessons after getting scooped in a grant application.

Related Reading

Taking the pain out of data sharing – Nature (Mathew Hutson | October 2022)

Want to know whether that journal is scamming you? Introducing the Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker – Retraction Watch (Ivan Oransky | May 2022)

Risk of being scooped drives scientists to shoddy methods – Science (Cathleen O’Grady | January 2021)

Ethics, Security and Privacy – the Bermuda Triangle of data management?

Chem journal yanks paper because authors had stolen it as peer reviewers – Retraction Watch (Adam Marcus | February 2019)

Single-molecule magnet controversy highlights transparency problems with U.K. research integrity system – C&EN (Mark Peplow | November 2018)

Been scooped? A discussion on data stewardship – Musings on Quantitative Palaeoecology (Richard Telford | February 2018)

Nightmare scenario: Text stolen from manuscript during review – Retraction Watch (Victoria Stern | March 2017)

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