alt Hacker News> Part of the problem is we got tricked into thinking "peer reviewed" meant "true," or at least something like it.
No actual working scientist thinks this.
“Glitchc” has it right elsewhere in this thread: the motivating force behind journals is prominence and reputation, not truth.
Ah, but the naive public still broadly believes in peer review, and that high profile journals do good review. And the prominence and reputation that comes from these journals arguably then relies on this (increasingly false) public perception.
Would scientists feel the same if the public was more educated about how bad journals and peer review are? Not so easy to disentangle IMO.