&gt;  Yes that may be true. Instead of trying to reproduce it, they attempt to build upon it. The projects which successfully build on previous projects become original research articles and the cycle continues.<p>Whether this &quot;works&quot; or not depends on how the previous projects enter into it. If the results of previous projects are used as assumptions to justify the methods, data, etc. of the subsequent project, there is no check and we risk the research becoming a house of cards which could collapse due to faultly, untested assumptions that were used.<p>If the subsequent projects are performed in such a way that they also test the previous results&#x2F;assumption, this can be avoided. I can&#x27;t tell from your wording which you are suggesting, though it seems to lean towards the former.