I find a work title similar to mine without any published paper, what I have to do?

Question

I am doing my PhD study. I have already finished my objectives. Before 4 months, I have done one of my objectives. Today, I found a title similar to mine in some way, in one of the conference workshops. The work was presented at 04 to 07 of Jul 2018. I read the abstract which does not give any further information about the work. I search for the work via Google Scholar and the library of my university, however, I found nothing.

All what I understand from the abstract is that they used the same name as the model that I have used, which was not investigated when I finished my objective.

I am really confused now. I do not know what I have to do. There is no peer review paper about the work.

Any advice, please?

Answer 1

There are at least three options. One is to contact the original authors for more information, perhaps including a copy of the paper. If the work is too similar you may have to change direction. But perhaps the change in direction is to extend that work.

The second option is just to carry on and hope for the best while continuing to check to see if more information becomes available. This is the risky option, of course, as you will be spending time now on work that may need to be modified or abandoned later.

The third, maybe best option, is to have your advisor or another faculty member request the earlier work and make a judgement on your behalf. One option of the advisor is to analyze the work in light of your own and give you advice. This has the additional benefit that you don't see the work and so can't be influenced by it unless that is necessary for ethical reasons. While this doesn't preserve the claim of "parallel work" it helps protect you from any charge of improperly benefitting from the work of others. Of course it also depends on the solid reputation of your advisor.