Common Scholarly Publishing Steps
- Researchers obtain grant funding, usually from federal agencies
- Researchers use those monies to pay for labs, equipment, grad students, etc. to carry out their research
- Researchers write up the results of their research and then seek out a journal to publish it in.
- Publishers accept articles for publication, but require the authors to sign over their copyright, meaning that the journal now owns the article.
- Publishers sell back the journals to libraries at exorbitant prices
- Libraries buy the journals because they are essential for research being conducted by faculty and students.
- Neither authors nor peer reviewers are paid for their services.
