Im not sure prosecuting academics is particularly obvious: you'd need to prove malicious intent (rather than ignorance) which is always difficult. For me a bet

Im not sure prosecuting academics is particularly obvious: you'd need to prove malicious intent (rather than ignorance) which is always difficult. For me a better solution would be to properly incentivise replication work and solid scientific principles. If repeating an experiment and getting a contradictory result carried the same kudos as running the original experiment then I think we'd be in a healthier place. Similarly if doing the 'scientific grind work' of working out mistakes in experimental practice that can affect results and, ultimately, our understanding of the universe around us. I think an analogy with software development works pretty well: often the incentives point towards adding new features above all else. Rarely is sitting down and grinding through the litany of small bugs prioritised, but as any dev will tell you doing that grind work is as important otherwise you'll run in to a wall of technical debt and the whole thing will come tumbling down.