In our newest “how can we help you?” thread, a PhD student asks:

I’m a graduate student and I’ve submitted my paper to many conferences, including the graduate conference. I’m wondering if there is any chance that my ideas will be stolen and published before I publish them. I have this question because I’ve heard that many referees for graduate conferences are students, and I’ve heard that students have stolen other people’s ideas from conference papers. Also, sometimes I come up with an idea and I think I’ve read it before, but I can’t find it. But I’m not sure if it’s from a draft I’ve read before.

I have all kinds of thoughts about this, and will probably weigh in down in the comments section. But, before I do, I’m curious to hear from other readers.

What do you all think? Have you ever run into problems presenting unpublished work at conferences or colloquia (viz. sketchy shenanigans that made you think someone took and published your ideas)? In line with this blog’s safe and supportive mission, please don’t make explicit or implicit allegations directed toward identifiable individuals. Instead, I’m just looking for a general sense of whether people have run into problems that have led them to think that presenting at conferences (and such) is risky for junior people for the kinds of reasons the OP mentions.

Originally appeared on The Philosophers’ Cocoon Read More