can I publish a research if researches on relate topics are published in the same year?

Can u also guide me about one thing. in searching for literature gap, do we also take in consideration if there has been any published articles about it recently like in 2025? Someone was implying that if there has been any published article regarding the topic in the recent year then it’s not possible to research on it. Please help me out with this ambiguity I would be truely grateful.