&gt; However, academic publishers such as Elsevier say that monetizing these papers brings in vital funding for ongoing academic research, enabling authors and scholarly societies to obtain vital revenue.<p>There is some truth to that, in that publications in top journals help scientists get funded. But the credibility of top journals depends on <i>pro bono</i> work by editors and reviewers. Also, reputations of top journals go back decades, in some cases centuries. Current owners of academic publishers are just parasites.