Background
Nowadays, academic research has been becoming an arms race and there are millions of paper published every year. Besides, a potential research topic/area means the research group is eager to know and answer it. Therefore, researchers are facing strong competition in most potential research topics and areas (e.g. deep learning today).
Question
How do researchers choose the proper research topics and areas to avoid strong competition, especially when their research interest is becoming popular?
- Choosing an another research topic, but less interested in that.
- Keeping the strong competition.
- Quitting academic career?.
- Others?.
Thank you for your suggestion.