I think there is an important (and obvious) third alternative to the two options presented at the end (of the snippet, rather early in the full piece), namely that many scientists are not very interested in the truth value of the papers they cite. This is neither malice nor stupidity. There is simply no mechanism to punish scientists who cite bad science (and it is not clear there should be, in my opinion). If a paper passes the initial hurdle of peer review it is officially Good Enough to be cited as well, even if it is later retracted (or, put differently, “I’m not responsible for the mistakes the people I cited make, the review committee should have caught it!”).
If you’re a scientist, your job is ostensibly to uncover the truth about your field of study, so I think being uninterested in the truth of the papers you cite is at least a little bit malicious.
I think there is an important (and obvious) third alternative to the two options presented at the end (of the snippet, rather early in the full piece), namely that many scientists are not very interested in the truth value of the papers they cite. This is neither malice nor stupidity. There is simply no mechanism to punish scientists who cite bad science (and it is not clear there should be, in my opinion). If a paper passes the initial hurdle of peer review it is officially Good Enough to be cited as well, even if it is later retracted (or, put differently, “I’m not responsible for the mistakes the people I cited make, the review committee should have caught it!”).
If you’re a scientist, your job is ostensibly to uncover the truth about your field of study, so I think being uninterested in the truth of the papers you cite is at least a little bit malicious.
Certainly, but it’s not malicious in the sense of deliberately citing bad science. More like negligence.