[i000]

Is this assessment (reviews over papers) based on your own experience?

As a scientist I would say quite the opposity is the case, reviews are sloppy in citations, per editorial guidelines have to be written in a positive optimistic tone, and often overstate the claims of the cited articles.

[Retric]

I am not suggesting they are more or even nessisarily as accurate vs individual papers. Rather, they demonstrate the untrusted nature of individual papers.

Personally, I often find them a useful starting point on a topic. At best they capture the field at a moment in time, at worst their near useless. However, that’s just me not everyone in every field.