My unpublished research was scooped?: Misconduct reveals one way copyright preserves academic values

In many disciplines, researchers work simultaneously on closely related concepts or lines of research—related labs may be across the hall, or halfway around the world. While cross-pollination among researchers working on similar topics can be a positive force that drives research collaboratively forward, there is often competition among related researchers for resources, funding, and publication credits. It can be bitterly disappointing when one research team manages to publish on a new insight or discovery shortly before another competing team—even more so if the team that has been beaten to publication actually reached the new insight earlier.