Really the idea of publish or perish needs to be deemphasized. Someone in the Chinese government got the idea that publishing scientific papers is paramount, so

Really the idea of publish or perish needs to be deemphasized. Someone in the Chinese government got the idea that publishing scientific papers is paramount, so Chinese scientists pump out papers, many having little or no use. I fear western researchers are in the same boat: Publish. Doesn't matter how good it is, how useful it is, just publish. If there is a heuristic it's quantity. If a laboratory, person, or country is producing an inordinate amount of papers then perhaps it's a good idea to sample and test some of those.