I am in second year of my PhD. I have a plan for my second paper, I did a full scale literature review etc. But then I put it on hold to finish my first paper.
A new student started this term and is coincidentally pursuing the idea for my second paper!
I highly doubt we can both have the same paper.
I know that co-authoring is a possibility. But, is there grounds for me to argue that she should find a new topic, instead of me. As it will mean that I wasted a large chunk of my first year on this topic.
We plan to use data for the same country, which means that we will ultimately end up with the same statistical model, because the data available is not the best, so there is not much leeway on what model I use.
From what the student has told me, her statistical plan (is the same as mine), which is also the popular method in the literature field.