Demystifying Networks / quote 5 of 5
Subscription journals are a vestigial organ
The system of pay-to-subscribe journals that spent so many centuries helping the scholarly landscape coordinate and collaborate is now obsolete; a vestigial organ in the body of science. These days, most universities offer free web access and web hosting. These two elements are necessary, though not sufficient, for a free knowledge economy. We also need peer review (or some other, better form of quality control), improved reputation management (citations++), and some assurance that data/information will last. These come at a cost, but those costs can be paid by the entire scholarly market, and the fruits enjoyed within and without. If you think open access is important, you should also consider pledging to support open access. Publishing companies have a lot of money invested in keeping things as they are, and only a concerted effort on behalf of the scholars feeding and using the system will be able to change it.