[ggm]

No, they didn't loose their credibility. To political debate they were never granted it, and between themselves as peers it hasn't been lost.

Your perception and reality diverged and your claims they lost credibility lacks a crucial qualifier: 'to me' -which I and many many others discount, even at the volume of American science scepticism. You actually aren't a majority, anywhere and you don't define scientific credibility any more than politics does.

[tetris11]

It is weakening somewhat. The sheer volume of papers that pass in high impact journals, and then are later pulled after X years with minor repercussions, seems at least to me to be an alarming trend. That, paired with the cronyism I've personally witnessed between editors and professors... as someone entrenched in the field, I have to say, I'm surprised more people aren't jaded.