They don't pay their employees though -- if you count the people who generate the actual content as employees. Nor do they pay the academics who do the actual peer review.
They pay editorial staff and tech dudes. I guess a metric shit-ton.
Retail stores don't pay their employees either, if you count the people who manufacture the actual goods. Nor do they pay the truckers who actually get the goods to the store.
They pay janitorial staff and retail assistants. I guess a metric shit-ton.
Yes, it's an imperfect metaphor, but it's showing that you can still provide value without being the origin of the object.
Perhaps academic authors should boycott elitist journals and publish their research on their own websites. They could even ask their peers to review it before publishing.
Yes, I've actually thought of that, as I recently paid a $600 open access fee myself. Perhaps something along the lines of wikipedia would work well. Wiki journal?
A lot of the time, wikipedia editors can do better peer review than the actual journals (although it's against wikipedia rules to do such original research). I can't count the number of times I've seen absolute shit science in the supposedly top journals.
Most public libraries and other institutions pay for database access and journal access. You can usually go in and request access to science material at no cost to you.
The barrier to entry is still quite high, unfortunately.
