For a good example of the self-corrective sequence of steps
resulting in the rejection of an unjustified claim can be found
in the last issue of Physics Today (September, 2002, pages
15 to 17). The title is "Evidence of Element 118 Was a
Fabrication."
The claim was that three Z=118 atoms were observed to
decay by spontaneous fission in several days of bombardment
of Lead by Krypton ions. Apparently it was a fraud.
Ludwik Kowalski