If the studies they are producing aren't high-quality, is there any value to them? Do we, as a whole (because some individuals will lose out, as you say), benefit by rewarding low standards of work?

I'd also said that many may be _capable_ of high-quality work, but merely have limited incentives to produce it currently.

Perhaps but such changes, if they occur at all, would likely be gradual and so shifts in the structure of academia would cushion the fall.

In any case, if we can't expect and even demand high-quality research from professional scientists, I fear we are doomed as a species.