How to avoid scooping ?

With increasing demand for novel research in every field in STEM, we researchers are always under pressure to conduct a unique research that has not been done before. This pressure results into constant thoughts on the 'publish or perish' culture that eventually makes researchers rush into it all and sometimes we end up scooping research unintentionally. This stressfully competent research environment has a positive and a negative side. Positive side is that you will be recognized as a successful scientist, or your work will help others succeed and the negative side is that you will need to go through tremendous work pressure to do background study before choosing a research topic; as it is well said “No pain no gain”.

Scooping is when you are working on a particular research topic and suddenly, the same research work comes out in the news or gets published out of nowhere.

I am writing this article because unfortunately, I have faced the issue of scooping in the past during my postgraduate research dissertation. But fortunately, reading often on what research I conduct daily, saved me from the catastrophe that might have tainted my entire dissertation in future.

The 4 golden rules I am suggesting below will seem easy but trust me, they aren’t as easy as they seem unless you try your best. Dedication and perseverance is important to keep it real.

Can it be handled well, can one make sure his research isn't scooped ?

Here are some suggestions to avoid scooping of research :

1) READ, READ AND READ…

Every great research begins with a thorough background study. Learning throughout the research period is all just because of reading. Without reading, there is no way you can begin your research or even finish it. Not everybody likes reading, but reading about your topic of interest in general helps to get an idea of the scope of that research and to go ahead to decide a topic on it. Don’t just read research papers before topic selection, but also as you are performing experiments. Reading often, usually daily after conducting experiments, acted like a lifesaver for me; because the moment I saw a paper published on the research I had just begun, I acted quickly and soon changed or deviated my research aim. So yes, reading often saves the trouble later.

2) ASK AWAY…

Communicate with the professors in your college who have expertise in that field. Ask them about research done in that particular field and get to know about it in detail. Ask questions; because solving doubts you have will help clarify a lot of things that might help you later during selection of the research topic. The more you talk, the more you keep your thoughts open to thinking for new ideas or get to know whether your idea has already been in work in some part of the world.

3) TAKE NOTES…

This is something I personally prefer. Writing down important points or summaries of the research papers I have read and also all the suggestions or other information my professors have provided me with. Noting things down helps you keep a record of it all which makes accessing it easier later instead of spending time searching or reading it all over again.

4) EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITIES…

Now that you are aware of beginning research topic selection, take a break to rethink all the information you have handy and consider possibilities of researching on your selected research topic. Explore the options that are available to you and decide the topic just after considering the possibilities.

If you take genuine interest and are ready to trouble yourself with some years of thorough dedication and perseverance, you will be able to conduct your research successfully without scooping it !

- Rachna Jadhav

@theresilientresearcher