I understand the thinking but this should sound as non-sensical as
> We didn't release our first, second or third papers because we didn't want to be scooped on the fourth and if we publish then someone might build on our work!
We didn't release our first, second or third papers because we didn't want to be scooped on the fourth and if we publish then someone might build on our work!
Which happens all the time. If you are working on something big you'll sometimes hold back on publishing parts of your research until you've completed the big thing for just that reason. Then once you've completed the big thing you publish all four papers either together or in quick succession.
> We didn't release our first, second or third papers because we didn't want to be scooped on the fourth and if we publish then someone might build on our work!