I am not talking about USA only. And I am not talking about direct ties between the universities and publishers. In most cases, they do not have any ties whatso

I am not talking about USA only. And I am not talking about direct ties between the universities and publishers. In most cases, they do not have any ties whatsover, but are clinging to such practices. So to solve the problem you need a change at both your university, and at the publishing side. But still, as many do not have a tenure, you have to think about possible future mobility, and if your papers are published in some new venue, you are risking that in the future it might not be recognized by your future employer. Therefore you are kind-of forced into self-censorship. Especially if you are from a poor country where no-one pays you to do research (just teaching) and you can only go to 1 conference in a year or every 2 years. You have to "make them count".