That&#x27;s a bit harsh--many academic scientists can&#x27;t do much to change the status quo. I would <i>love</i> to submit to open access journals, but I also really like eating, having a place to sleep, and other indulgences that having a job provides.<p>As a grad student, one basically doesn&#x27;t have much say. Postdocs have a bit more latitude, but need to &quot;play the game&quot; to land jobs; pre-tenure faculty are in a very similar position if they want to keep theirs. Even tenured PIs are in a pretty precarious position: many are on soft-money positions (no grants, no salary), all of them need grants, and their trainees also presumably want to move up the grad student -&gt; postdoc -&gt; faculty ladder.<p>Getting this to change is a massive collective action problem and it&#x27;s really going to need a push from institutions and the big names at the very top. This holds not just for publications, but a lot of other issues with academia too. I&#x27;d love to spend more time making our code solid and publicly available, but there&#x27;s essentially no payoff for that either.