Google does a better job of cataloguing the journal records; i fear you are giving to the commercial publishers too much credit. I agree that their net contribu

Google does a better job of cataloguing the journal records; i fear you are giving to the commercial publishers too much credit. I agree that their net contribution is negative and at this point they have become an impediment to scientific progress. The reasons they still exist is because they maintain an image of authority among scientists, and indirectly determine their career prospects (in the life sciences at least). This image is cultivated through marketing, lobbying, and vast connections to the mainstream press and media.