Scientific publishing is rigged — at our expense

"If ‘money makes the world go round,’ then the world of scientific publishing has proved to be no exception to the rule. When the first scientific journal, The Royal Society’s Philosophical Transactions, came rolling off the press in 1665, it was paid for with a subscription model. In time, journals like these yielded income for commercial publishers, especially as the number of scientists and research institutions grew. But it was never big business — at least by modern standards. The moderately small scientific community, competition between printing houses, and high costs of distribution and production, reigned in any possibility of profiteering. The system worked well insofar as those who wanted to read about recent discoveries had reasonable access to printed journals, at reasonable prices. In the mid-twentieth century, the laissez-faire approach began to go awry. Through the 60s and 70s, power was consolidated as commercial publishers acquired high-profile journals to add to their collections, previously overseen by various not-for-profit academic societies. A once crowded market soon transformed into one dominated by a handful of major players...."