This lesson covers a critical ethical and practical step: a thorough literature review. It is your ethical responsibility as a researcher to know what has already been done.

Why Is This an Ethical Issue?

Submitting a study that has already been done (a "duplication of research") is a major ethical lapse. It is considered unethical for several reasons:

It wastes resources: It wastes the journal's, editor's, and peer reviewers' time.
It wastes funding: Money was spent on a question that already had an answer.
It disrespects patients: In clinical research, this is the most serious issue. You cannot ask participants to take on risk (even minimal risk, like giving up their time or data) for a study that adds no new knowledge.

Your first job is to prove that your research question is novel and necessary.

Part 1: How to Know Your Idea Is New

You must conduct a thorough, systematic search of the existing literature. This is not a one-time step but an ongoing process.

1. Foundational Database Searches Your search must be comprehensive. This includes major databases like:

PubMed / MEDLINE
Scopus
Web of Science
Cochrane Library (for systematic reviews)

2. Active, Ongoing Monitoring The literature changes daily. You must stay on top of it.

Journal Alerts: Sign up for "Table of Contents" (TOC) email alerts from the top 5-10 journals in your specific field.
Keyword Alerts: Set up saved searches in PubMed or Scopus for your key topics. You will get a weekly email of any new papers published on that topic.
Use Modern Tools: Apps like the Researcher App can be set up to feed you a daily list of new articles based on your keywords, helping you stay current with minimal effort.

3. Search the "Grey Literature" and Preprints This is a step many researchers miss, but it is the best way to avoid duplication.

What is a Preprint? A preprint (posted on servers like Research Square, medRxiv, or bioRxiv) is a full draft of a manuscript that has been completed but has not yet been peer-reviewed or published.
Why is this critical? This is the most up-to-date research. If you find a preprint identical to your idea, you know that another team is 6-12 months ahead of you. This allows you to pivot your research question before you start, not after you're finished.

Part 2: What to Do When You Find Similar Work

It is very rare that an idea is 100% new. You will always find related work. How you use it is what matters.

Scenario: You find a previously published questionnaire for your survey study.

Is this a problem? No, this is fantastic! It shows that the area is of interest and that a validated tool already exists.
Ethical Action: You must cite the original paper that developed and validated that questionnaire. You cannot present it as your own.
Scientific Action: You can (and should) build on it. In your Methods section, you will state, "We used the [Questionnaire Name] developed by [Author, Year] (Citation) to measure [Variable]. We also added three additional questions to assess..."

By citing the previous work and building on it, you are practicing good science and good ethics. You are connecting your new work to the existing knowledge base, which is the entire goal of research.

Lesson 6: Finding and Citing Previous Work

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CHAPTER#1 JOURNAL SELECTION

CHAPTER#2 PEER REVIEW PROCESS

CHAPTER#3 Ethics in Publishing

CHAPTER#4 Academic branding