WRT > This isn't the right question. The question is, "Who should be profiting from research papers?" I am not sure that the way you put it s right either. B

WRT > This isn't the right question. The question is, "Who should be profiting from research papers?" I am not sure that the way you put it s right either. Because "who should be profiting from research papers?" is too generic of a question, and does not appear to necessarily supersede the question 'should tax-funded publication be readable for free?' If I may rephrase your question to be: "Quality control of a research paper, must be, necessarily funded (either by money or a form of barter). Therefore question a) who should fund it, question b) who should receive funding to do the quality control" Then, obviously, this is an important question. And I do not believe has been clearly answered either in polices or on this forum. My answer to ( a ) would be -- the same entity that funds the research (therefore in this case the tax payers) My answer to ( b ) would be -- a licensed or otherwise professionally certified group, independently selected (that is not selected by the researcher that authors the publication).