Troubling...

Troubling ... this sort of thing is.  But what could be done about it?  Other than shining light on the issue (as Claire Berlinski does in the post linked there), this is a sort of corruption that stays hidden.  You might suspect someone of benefiting from dishonest writings, but how could you possibly know?  And even if you did, what could you do about it?  So far as I know, there's nothing illegal about it...