What If You Find Your Article in Another Publication?
What should authors do if they find their article somewhere other than in the publication it was originally intended for?
Simple. They should contact the publication the article was originally intended for and let them know about it.
While it may be content theft, it may also be part of a content license deal or simply be that both publications are owned by the same parent company. Conversely, depending on the terms of the writers agreement, the publication should first contact the author if it sees its article in another publication. The author could have given permission to the other publication to reprint the article.
Also depending on the contract, the parent company could be in violation if the agreement terms do not explicitly state that articles can be redistributed to its other properties.
In any case, authors definitely should not ignore notifying a publication if they discover their article elsewhere. They should also contact the original publication if they are queried by another company about republishing their articles.