A professor may have stolen an idea I discussed with him: how to proceed?

Question

I'm really not sure how to proceed from here.

I'm an undergraduate Computer Science student, planning to earn my MSc in the next couple of years.

A couple of weeks ago, I spoke with a professor (I'll call him A) on an informal setting, and, since he was my teacher on an area relevant to the subject, I discussed with him an idea I had, and about how I was trying to make it my own thesis project.

I have also previously "pitched" this idea to another professor (B). He liked it, and we agreed that once I graduated, he was willing to be my advisor, and I could work on it.

However, I was recently shown the list of thesis proposals for current students, and my idea was among them - being supervised by prof. A, and an unrelated professor, C.

The details are so close to what we have discussed that this is almost surely no coincidence.

Now, I can't say I'm 100% sure he stole my idea, but he didn't mention any of this when we talked, and this thesis list was made after our conversation.

Anything could have happened: either I'm right, or prof. C actually came up with the same idea, or prof. A had a similar idea in the past but didn't tell me about it.

I don't know how to proceed. I am already skeptical of academia - seeing my peers work on projects and write papers that didn't interest them, for the sole purpose of earning an MSc, means I'm not interested on working for it unless it's a subject I really care about. That is - I either find anything I want to work on, or I don't care about earning an MSc at all. This was the case. I found a project I wanted to work on.

My question is on the ethics of what may have happened. I have zero experience on academia or research environments, but I have always considered ideas as important as research. That is, copying an idea is as serious to me as copying research. This would fall into plagiarism.

• Is this perspective shared among actual academics? Am I naive in thinking like this?
• Am I right in wanting to "keep" an idea to myself, in order to work on it later?
• Should I just stay quiet the next time? Shouldn't I be able to discuss these kind of things with people I consider to be honest or "bona fide", without having to be afraid of being copied?

I see multiple possible courses of action, but in the end, I don't know what I want to achieve. The thesis is already assigned, so I probably won't be able to take it away from the student who got it. I also don't know whether this is an ethics violation from prof. A or not, since this is "just an idea" that I voluntarily shared with him.

I can confront prof. A about this, either sending him an e-mail or speaking with him in person, to get his side of the story.

Or I can go to prof. B and tell him about this situation, to see what are his thoughts on it. He looked interested on working with me on this, so maybe he'll know better how to proceed.

What is the best (or "a good") course of action now? I don't feel I should forget this whole story and move on to a different subject, but I don't see what can be done now.

Answer 1

I think it's very clear that you should talk with (B). You had previously discussed this idea with (B) so s/he knows that it was something that you had been considering. Furthermore, (B) also presumably knows the situation within the department better than you. Maybe (A) is known for doing things like this. Maybe the overlap isn't as serious as you think and (B) can reassure you that you can still do your thesis as you wanted to. No one here can decide whether either one of these is the case.

One word of advice: in talking with (B), present this situation as something that you are concerned about, but stay unemotional and stick to the facts: (B) knows that you were interested in this similar project, you discussed it with (A), and now another student is doing this project with (A). You do not need to connect the dots and accuse (A) directly of plagiarism or dishonest conduct in an initial conversation with (B). If this is a misunderstanding or miscommunication then doing so makes you seem aggressive and prone to jumping to conclusions. If (A) did something that is as blatantly dishonest as you have suggested, then that will be obvious to (B) as well.

Answer 2

I agree that you should talk to B about it.

In the meanwhile, let me offer another perspective. Given that you are an undergrad, it is possible that you are not experienced enough to judge:

1) what the research frontiers are in the field

2) how "close" two ideas are

For example, it may be the case that your idea was something general like "I would like to use technique X on problem Y". But the novelty may come from the fact that technique X needs to be modified drastically on problem Y (e.g. if Y is a super large dataset). In this case, ostensibly the ideas are similar, but in fact the core of the idea, at least from a "contribution to science" perspective, is different.

Answer 3

I suspect it will still be possible to ask the student (call him (D)) to change projects. Changing research areas happens all the time, and while it won't be ideal for (D), surely (A) or (C) will be able to find another project for him, or (D) can change projects. It's more unfair to you to have your idea stolen than it is to (D) to change topics.

I would probably have a word with your department's (or your smallest organisational unit's) head of postgraduate research about this. They can probably have a word with (A) and ask them to change (D)'s topic, hopefully without disciplinary action. This will be much easier if you have a written record of having discussed the idea with (B), as well as any detailed, date-stamped notes you took on it. As everyone else has said, I would talk to (B) before this to get his perspective, and ask (B) if he has any written records of discussing your idea. But I would have a plan before you talk to (B), in case (B) doesn't want to push your case himself to protect his relationship with (A).

Answer 4

This is something everyone in academia is concerned about. I agree that you should discuss it with professor B as suggested in the positively-voted answers above. In addition, you can after that do a series of quick research pertaining to your algorithm and produce something publishable, possibly collaborating with professor B. A conference paper is a good target.

Answer 5

Anybody can steal an idea. Theres not much worth of an idea in itself. The main thing is the execution. That nobody can steal. IF you believe so much in your idea. Why don't you make it a reality. Before Google there were 100s of search engines. So idea in itself is worth a dime. It's the real tangible form of it which matters. If you like it so much , go for it before anyone else.

Answer 6

An idea is an important part of research, but copying an (unpublished) idea is not entirely plagiarism, I fear. Academia is dealing with a two-bladed sword here. On the one hand, it is about plagiarism and authorship and credit; on the other hand, really good ideas have to be preserved, even in case you lose interest in the matters (or drop out or sth like that).

I guess Professor A assumed that, since you are years away from your degree, and since master thesises, unlike PhDs, are not strictly required to dig into a completely new topic, academia can cope with multiple master thesises on your topic, and decided that he cannot wait to push such an interesting topic until after you publish your initial work, should that ever be the case. I don't know about your university, but at mine, a third-semester C.S. bachelor has a less than 50% chance of actually getting a master's degree. Most dropouts here are "caused" by mathematics and/or engineering basic courses, not by CS classes, and they also befall CS students who score above average in the CS classes.

Now, if you really want to pursue that issue, there are three leverages you have. Let's call them A, B and C:

• Depending on your current situation, you can state to A that the "idea" of that master thesis is what you start working on very soon, and ask him to take the topic off his list for a certain amount of time. I personally do not believe that he will take it off his list for as long as three or four years; this is a really long time in CS.
• You may also talk to your to-be-supervisor B, state to him the fact that you presented your ideas to A on that matter on , and that this very idea was published on the site only afterwards. If both professors are of the same institute, he should be able to sort it out (but I don't know if he will do it, for the aforementioned reason).
• And you can send an eMail to C, informing him about the very same fact, and ask him whether he can definitely say that the idea of A is older, and if not, whether he is comfortable with being part of a situation of stolen ideas. This may only have the effect that C does not do co-supervision.

I personally would recommend against any of these actions, they burn bridges without promising any positive effect. But you should consider it a valuable lesson learned for your PhD:
Mouth shut, ears open!