I think you've missed the key issue here, and why we need activism in this area. The point is that the journals model is outdated, and only being sustained by t

I think you've missed the key issue here, and why we need activism in this area. The point is that the journals model is outdated, and only being sustained by the self-interest of an anachronistic/parasitic publishing industry. Let me paint you a picture of a hypothetical alternative system: a publicly funded, 100% free-to-access online system where academics can submit papers, and then other academics can peer review them. Papers and authors are ranked by an open-source algorithm that takes into account factors such as the number of citations, the quality of the papers making the citations, results of peer reviews, the quality of the peer reviewers and so on. Doesn't that sound like a better place for our shared cultural knowledge, that belongs equally to everyone, than being locked-up and monetised by a handful of private companies?