This paper caught my imagination despite myself, and then convinced me that the answer to the question in the headline is "yes". The key is in understanding the semantics in articles: "In stories and rhetoric, a statement exists not as a separate entity, but plays a role in the overarching narrative." When we look at scientific papers, this role is often signified by tense. In conclusions, the results are typically qualified ("It appears that..." or "One explanation may be..."). Over time, and in the wider community, this hypothesis is accepted. Then, in citing papers, the qualifiactions are dropped, and the conclusion is simply stated as a fact. "In short, scientific facts are based on a game of telephone between cited and citing authors. Besides being pulled from its experimental context, claims are often validated (and turned into 'known facts') by the simple act of being cited."
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