Follow the Money....Who pays for the studies?
NIH funds most studies but they don’t have real involvement. They leave it to prominent individuals and groups that have long tenure to maintain standards.
The problem germinates in the deliverables scheduling which drive publication schedules, and journals focus their schedules around that.
So in a monthly journal, the intake of manuscripts submitted for review form a pool of reports to consider for the next publication cycle. Each month the pool grows or shrinks depending on activity. Within those pools are some really good reports and some not so good.
The general public can understand it with a baseball analogy:
If you make the Major Leagues, you are an amazing player already in the broad view but when judged against all Pros you may or may not be a great player.
So it is with scientists. Some are just .200 hitters and fair with the glove. Others are solid or great hitters, some are amazing with the glove in comparison with all Pro players.
But the Journals have their cycles and if they get some great manuscripts, great! But if there’s a dearth of good reports, well, they got to print something. Their editorial staffs can put a manuscript on the back burner while waiting for something more substantial but sometimes they have to hold their noses.
Within the world of journals, there is a ranking from prestigious to midland. The prestigious ones always get the cream of the crop. All the great scientists are invited or expected to compete to publish in the prestigious journals.