This is neither new nor surprising. There is a whole field of science dedicated to the statistical analysis of multiple studies in prior literature, e.g. just

This is neither new nor surprising. There is a whole field of science dedicated to the statistical analysis of multiple studies in prior literature, e.g. just search for _Meta-analysis_ in the context of medical research. A state-of-the-art Meta-Analysis is indeed the strongest level of scientific evidence you can have to advise a healthcare decisions or guidelines. The only purpose of these journals with what they call a high 'impact factor', is that they typically have their peer reviews performed by people who are regarded as the _best_ in the their particular field. Nevertheless, to assume that an expert cannot be conned is also naive. edit: typo