> Overly pessimistic, and doesn't acknowledge that heads of steam only build behind promising findings, while the deficient (or 'fraudulent') work die on the vine, published or not.
This might be true in hard sciences where a "head of steam" can only build based on real, replicatable results
But it's very common that public policy is proposed and adopted based on findings from soft sciences like psychology and sociology
If policy is adopted based on a research paper, I would count that as a "head of steam" being built.
And if that paper is fraudulent, then we are adopting well-intentioned policy on false pretenses
This might be true in hard sciences where a "head of steam" can only build based on real, replicatable results
But it's very common that public policy is proposed and adopted based on findings from soft sciences like psychology and sociology
If policy is adopted based on a research paper, I would count that as a "head of steam" being built.
And if that paper is fraudulent, then we are adopting well-intentioned policy on false pretenses