How to calculate research points needed?

[ChrisShaffer]

I've noticed that the person who needs the most research points is not always the person with the most technologies. The SE bonuses are applied to the number of reseach points you are accumulating, not to the target number you must achieve to get the next technology. As an example, in one game I am playing 3 players have exactly the same set of technologies. One player's goal is 858 research points, one's is 926, and the third is 1048. Why are they different?
How does the game determine what your research point total cost is? Do linked Alien Artifacts and technologies discovered from pods count towards your total cost or reduce it?

[Garth Vader]

From my experience if you steal techs while researching something else, your total needed will not increase until you finish what you are working on (Then the total will jump by quite a bit for the next one).