According to Augustine Brannigan's "The social basis of scientific
discoveries", the classical papers on simultaneous discoveries are:
1. A.L. Kroeber(1917): "The superorganic". American Anthropologist, 19
(2), p. 163-213.
2. William Ogburn & Dorothy Thomas (1922): "Are inventions inevitable? A
note on social evolution". Political Science Quarterly, 37 (1), p. 83-98.
Best wishes
Ramon Garcia Fernandez