It happens to most people at some point, not just during their PhD but also afterwards, when they’re working on articles, monographs, and other pieces of research. Via a simple Google search or perhaps in person at a conference, you are faced with the realisation that someone is working on a virtually identical topic to yours. The first response is usually that sinking feeling, perhaps not so different from what Freud describes as the uncanny effect of the Doppelgänger, or the double. The double threatens our sense of uniqueness, our conviction that there is only one person exactly like us. It’s not uncommon to feel that your research topic, especially during your PhD, somewhat defines you, determines who you are; but now there is this other person whose thesis is seemingly concerned with exactly the same questions, issues, theories, or primary materials as yours; your PhDouble, if you will. The result: we fear for our originality, for our uniqueness. Some react with a competitive spirit that drives them to produce something “better” than this other person; others respond with disenchantment with their topic, which now seems so unoriginal, so commonplace, and not worth pursuing.
So what should you do when someone’s thesis covers the same ground as yours, or is at least concerned with the same topic? My immediate thought is: get used to it. The idea that we all do distinct and absolutely unique research is a myth, and thinking that your work is only worthwhile if you’re absolutely the only one on the planet doing it is actually something that goes against what I’d consider good scholarship. You wouldn’t get away with citing only one secondary source in your literature review, in your journal article, or in your thesis chapter, and you know the reason: research is all about digging deep into a topic, about uncovering the different possible approaches to it, and about discovering perhaps the inherent contradictions which define it. So, generally speaking, your topic, and indeed your work on it, should be enriched rather than diminished by a fellow researcher’s work on it.
In fact, discussing your research with someone who works on a very closely related or seemingly identical topic should be highly beneficial to your thought processes, analysis, and writing. See your fellow researcher as a collaborator, and find out where you disagree and where your findings or interpretations converge. Talking to someone whose thesis topic heavily overlaps with yours should present an opportunity to hone in on the originality – for want of a better word – of your own approach. What makes your PhD different from your peer’s, despite the seemingly similar subject matter?
I used the word “seemingly” again and again here, and for a very good reason. Even if someone was writing their thesis on the same author or the same texts as you, and even if, on top of that, they also use the same theories to frame their study, it’s incredibly unlikely that the two theses end up saying exactly the same thing. Unless you have plagiarized someone else’s work, no one will fail you in your viva voce because someone somewhere else is writing or has just written a similar thesis.
“But what about the book?!” I hear the humanities researchers ask in panic! There are actually very few instances in which the book that arises from your thesis is literally your thesis. No publisher wants a 10,000 word introduction and theoretical framework, so that’s usually the first thing that has to go. Unless you have made a very good job of writing something that works both as a passable doctoral thesis and a monograph, it’s also likely that there are other things you’ll have to change about your study before it gets the go-ahead as a book. I’m a firm believer in the idea that our work is never finished. A publication could always have done with revising that paragraph, or adding this new piece of research. The same applies to your thesis. It should evolve into book form, meaning it’s even less likely that someone will be submitting exactly the same monograph proposal (if they’re submitting one at all).
So don’t be put off when you meet your PhDouble. They’re your peer, your colleague, your potential collaborator, and can even be your mock external examiner. In my case, they even had the same supervisor, the same funding, and became my best friend and housemate. Academia is about the creation of knowledge, meaning that at its best it is always collaborative, never solitary, even when you’re alone in your study.
Thank you so much for this article…. it brought calm to my nerves….
I have a beautiful PhD idea and saw something similar on a PhD call for application. It was disappointing , then i turned to google for answers and found your post.
Thank you for sharing this.
Thank You Nadine. When I found out my thesis argument had already been researched and published, I sank to the point that I even found it necessary to google what my next step should be. I feel a little better after having read your piece. Thank you.
Thanks so much for this article. I’ve just started my PhD (3 weeks in) which is based on my honours thesis from 2016, and at the time it was very new research. However I’ve just now some accross a dissertation that is essentially what I had intended on looking at from May 2017. After a slight panic and cry (and reading this article) I’m feeling much better and realising I will just need to find gaps in their research and push it further.
Thanks again.
This is exactly what I needed to read! I’ve been so dispirited since starting my PhD a month ago, feeling like all my ideas have been ‘taken’ already. As though it’s so easy to have the last word on a subject. So thank you!!
Nadine,
Thanks a lot for your article and advice on “PhDouble”. I’ve just started my PhD at the University of Hull, it’s my 1st year, 1st semester. I came up with a research idea and I was so excited because I have a passion in this area. I started putting things together for introduction and trying to identify gaps. After about a months or so and after writing about 18 pages, I just learned yesterday that I’ve a “PhDouble”. The other student is at a different university here in the UK, doing the same topic (phrased differently from how I have phrased mine), is submitting this month end, collected data in the same country I had intended to go and collect (i.e., we come from the same country), in rural area as I had planned, and using similar method as I planned (i.e., qualitative). When I saw her profile on Google, I was devastated and I really didn’t know what to do. I then set up a meeting with my supervisor to map the way forward. But, reading your article has helped me a lot and relieved my stress.
Thanks,
PhD Student
Dear Mayeso Lazaro and Nadine,
Thank you both for your insight in to the challenges faced by PhD students. I was recently asked at an interview “What would you do if the PhD student you were supervising came to you towards the end of their research term and was devastated because someone else had published the same research?”
My heart sunk as I could not begin to imagine that pupils reaction and felt helpless. What would be an ideal way to handle this situation, in your opinion?
Kind Regards,
NB