There is a replication crisis in every field that is not disciplined by a need to achieve externally-defined goals. Chemistry is in good shape because people apply it in order to e.g. create steel.
The difference between a scientist and an engineer is that the scientist answers the question "if I do X, what will happen?", and the engineer answers the question "what do I do in order to get Y to happen?". But if there are no engineers working off of the results, the scientist is free to say anything.
Sadly, as pointed out elsewhere in the subthread, this is a sufficient but not a necessary condition. Medicine has plenty of well-defined goals, but it doesn't know how to meet them. The cheap wisdom there is: if you want something badly enough, there will always be someone willing to sell it to you, whether or not they actually have it.
The difference between a scientist and an engineer is that the scientist answers the question "if I do X, what will happen?", and the engineer answers the question "what do I do in order to get Y to happen?". But if there are no engineers working off of the results, the scientist is free to say anything.
Sadly, as pointed out elsewhere in the subthread, this is a sufficient but not a necessary condition. Medicine has plenty of well-defined goals, but it doesn't know how to meet them. The cheap wisdom there is: if you want something badly enough, there will always be someone willing to sell it to you, whether or not they actually have it.