Hi, this is my first time to use this forum for help. I will be grateful if received any advice. I am in Japan and it will be the second year (2/3) of my PhD course from April. The requirement for graduation in my graduate school is 2 journal papers and I have already published one during my master course. However, I am 29 years old now due to working in the industry for 3 years after graduation from college. That is to say, I would be 31 if I spend a full 3-year to get a PhD, which is quite late for students in Asia (normally at 28 years old). The only way to make up for this is to publish 3 papers instead of 2, so I can have a reduction of 1 year. In December last year, I submitted my 2nd paper, so it seems on the track because I have 9 months this year for my 3rd paper. However, the other day I have received a major revision request from the journal editor, which referred to a previous work that has similar effects with my work (although the two are different). My paper can be published only if I can show a performance advantage over the previous work. This collision accident keeps undermining my confidence now. I doubt if I have any talent in doing research (computer science). If I am not smarter than others, how can I find something new that others cannot, especially given the huge number of competitor researchers in this field? As a normal person, can I survive in academia, or should I find somewhere involves fewer competitions? Thanks.