If I have a very good result, should I share it with an academic (Professor) from another part of the world who is an expert in the subject, but whom I have never met?
I’m interested in collaboration, but then again I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag and then have nothing come of it, especially before I’ve published anything. On the other hand as a professional, the other party should stick to their academic code of practice and I should have nothing to worry about, right?
This is work I’ve done in my spare time outside of my other academic duties. Work I do in my paid roles I would just publish myself and wouldn’t feel the need to seek collaboration in this way.
Answer
In science, just as in most areas of human activity, most people try to behave ethically but some have skewed views of ethics and some are just plain nasty.
Good ways to protect yourself are:
- Asking somebody you trust who knows about the ethical character of the person you are looking to contact.
- Putting a draft of your work up online, e.g., arXiv, that can clearly provide a time-stamp on your work.
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