Is it possible to get a PhD with personal research? I'm a master computer science student. I decided to leave the academia after graduation, but I'm still into research and would like to do personal research independently for like 10 years. Suppose I publish a lot of papers in valuable journals, is it possible to get a PhD after that somehow?
Some universities offer the option of a 'PhD by published works'.  See this question for more information.  Is that the sort of thing you're looking for?