Yup, they do, but even their lies are useful signal. Social researchers incentivized by the tenure system and publish-or-perish have no reason to lie to you because they have no idea whether the lies are even inaccuracies. The only people they care about informing are the gate keepers. Academica have been totally kneecapped by the for-profit system and very little of what they do is related to the real world anymore.