I would argue that article authors generally are paid indirectly by the institution which employs them. Most scientific publications are authored by academics o

I would argue that article authors generally are paid indirectly by the institution which employs them. Most scientific publications are authored by academics or members of research labs who are specifically paid to publish. Of course, pay is not directly tied to each publication, but that is what most authors are paid for. At least in my institution, contributing to the peer review process is also an expected part of the process to achieve tenure. But the incentive is certainly far less than the incentive to publish.