In the introduction of my paper/letter to a scientific journal, I would like to describe that, in a particular area of research, there are a lot of new methods presented during the last years, that essentially do the same thing but in a (marginally) different way.
It is my opinion that, in most cases, these small differences, without any clear advantages over other methods besides being different, do not really justify the publication in many cases; more importantly, it seems to start to be a trend towards differentiation, just for the sake of differentiation without progression.
It kind of feels like the art school students who I meet on the bus every day. They all try to be different by having piercings and tattoos in different places and combinations (which is fine), but in the end they are all alike, because they try to be different in the same way with the same ingredients.
I am looking for a good or better word, expression or phrase to express this idea in a shorter, better and catchier (even a bit provocative) way.
EDIT: maybe a better title would be:
Is there a word or expression to describe a desperate act of "trying to be different in a non original way"?
Best Answer
A contrarian, perhaps?
This in commonly applied in economic contexts, but it is applicable in other cases too.
EDIT: To describe their act of "presenting the same stuff with a new name", you could consider
old wine in a new bottle (uncountable)
(Wiktionary)