> I guess this is an artifact of how cutthroat academia is and how vital it is to have credit for being first.

In fairness, academia has improved much in this regards since the days of Newton. That man was such an arse... even the Wikipedia article about his feud with Leibniz glosses over... everything.

Basically, not only was he a donkey about things, he used all sorts of underhanded tactics to win and reveled in devastating his rival's good standing.