Dismissive review
One part of the problem is that journals still permit you to make unsupported dismissive statements in your literature review, the chapter that's supposed to summarize past research, and these statements are rarely verified by the editor or reader. Retraction Watch calls this problem a dismissive review: retractionwatch.com/2021/03/23/dismissive-reviews-a-cancer-in-the-body-of-knowledge/
You can get a feel for the scale of the problem yourself with some internet searching. Try exact phrases, such as “this is the first study,” “little research,” “few studies” and various similar word combinations.
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When dismissive reviewers band together, they form a “citation cartel” (and practice what is variously called “citation stacking,” “citation amnesia,” or the like). They may cite each other profusely while declaring the work of others outside their group nonexistent or no good.
You could work around this by requiring what's known as Systematic review, or that the author refer to previously made systematic reviews.