Over the past year or so (coinciding with the advent of COVID-19), there has been a concerted effort by the nation’s elite institutions to portray “the Science” as infallible. Ignored, however, are the systemic flaws existing within academia that highlight the experts’ fallibility.

A meta-analysis examining a broad range of survey data found that 33.7% of scientists admit to engaging in questionable research practices, with 14.2% admitting to having observed colleagues outright fabricate results. Rates of misconduct are even higher among medical and pharmacological researchers, the work of whom considerably influenced the way governments reacted to COVID-19.