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I submitted my paper to a supposed editor for publication in a book. He never responded to the emails post my submission of the paper and upon contacting others from the mailing list I found out that they haven't received any response from him either.

A senior scholar suggested that I should partially publish the paper I sent so that I can save it from him stealing it. I did that and thought to forget it, but I just found out the supposed editor has a paper with my research idea in his list of publications. This person is now doing his postdoctoral research at a European university.

As a young scholar, I am feeling quite helpless. What can I do in this regard? Please help me.

EDIT: So upon reading the paper I can see that he lifted my idea and sources and tweaked it, my research paper was a literary analysis and he has copied my methodology and core text along with my sources.

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    Send a copy of your original paper and evidence that you submitted it to him as editor to the relevant department head at the European Uni and see what they say...
    – Solar Mike
    Commented Apr 14, 2019 at 18:58
  • Welcome to Academia SE. Can you please edit your question to specify the extent of plagiarism? Is this a verbatim copy, has just the text been altered, or is it “only” the idea that has been stolen? Also, how does your partial publication tie into this? Was it published before the plagiarising paper or afterwards. How large is the overlap?
    – Wrzlprmft ♦
    Commented Apr 14, 2019 at 19:12
  • @SolarMike: Please do not answer in the comments.
    – Wrzlprmft ♦
    Commented Apr 14, 2019 at 19:14
  • You mentioned that other people also submitted papers and then heard nothing back. Do you know whether their work was also stolen? If you're not the only victim, that should strengthen the case agains the thief.
    – Andreas Blass
    Commented Apr 15, 2019 at 1:45

2 Answers 2

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This is an unfortunate situation. I would try to contact that person's current supervisor (if you can find out who) and explain all this, and maybe s/he can reprimand this person. Additionally, I would also contact the editor of the journal and explain the same to him/her. It might result in the paper retraction on grounds of plagiarism/academic dishonesty. However, I am not sure how would you be credited for the stolen work. Maybe an addendum saying it was your idea or maybe publishing it separately altogether.

Edit1: As @CaptainEmacs pointed out, "Add email date evidence. It is not perfect, but at least corroborates the dates."

Edit2: As @ASimpleAlgorithm pointed out, "Presumably there would be vastly more evidence possible in terms of prior revisions and incremental experimental or theoretical work. It only takes a very short conversation before it becomes obvious which person is the plagiarizer and which is the author."

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    Add email date evidence. It is not perfect, but at least corroborates the dates.
    – Captain Emacs
    Commented Apr 14, 2019 at 19:49
  • @CaptainEmacs yes, this is very important.
    – nsinghphd
    Commented Apr 14, 2019 at 19:58
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    Presumably there would be vastly more evidence possible in terms of prior revisions and incremental experimental or theoretical work. It only takes a very short conversation before it becomes obvious which person is the plagiarizer and which is the author.
    – A Simple Algorithm
    Commented Apr 14, 2019 at 20:00
  • @ASimpleAlgorithm Excellent idea. Perhaps this can all be added to the answer?
    – Captain Emacs
    Commented Apr 14, 2019 at 20:05
  • @CaptainEmacs and ASimpleAlgorithm, I have added both of your comments in the answer.
    – nsinghphd
    Commented Apr 14, 2019 at 21:10
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If you can document what is in your question, collect all and contact, letting both recipients know about the other,

  • the dean(s) of that european university;

  • the editor of the journal or book where your stollen paper had appeared.

If I understood the situation correctly, the pseudo editor should have a rather hard time, professionally speaking.

The behaviour is a kind of aggravated plagiarism.

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