Having unsubstantiated statements in an abstract of a paper is deeply worrying from a scientific standpoint. The methodology in the paper seems ad hoc, sprinkl

Having unsubstantiated statements in an abstract of a paper is deeply worrying from a scientific standpoint. The methodology in the paper seems ad hoc, sprinkling it with statistics does not help if there is no firm ground to stand on, ie a sound method. Many of the reported issues have other explanations. Publishing has been broken for years and the system built by academia on top (publish or perish) has exacerbated the problem. Science is well and all, and as you mentioned, results should be reproduced, not only this paper's (with a better methodology preferably), but ALL science that has even the faintest hallmark of being published for publishing's sake.