Although journals are produced through the labor of researchers who contribute their time and skill for the benefit of their professional community, the net effect is a contribution to commercial publishers' high profits. But research libraries are under intense pressure to subscribe to journals in which their science faculty publish, regardless of the expense. Profit or Perish For a few years, according to Mary Case, director of scholarly communications at the ARL, the price of science journals rose so high that librarians had no choice but to cut acquisition of monographs in the humanities and social sciences. Besides that, science researchers are perceived as bringing in enormous amounts of grant money. The rates for sciences journals are hefty.
Publishers plead the high cost of paper.
But many do not pay the editors or referees of a journal. Nor do they pay for any overhead expenses, such as lab fees. And they certainly do not pay for the research behind the articles or the grants that support the research. It seduces university administrators with promises of endowed chairs and courts the editorial boards of journals it wants to acquire with the lure of international attention. Mergers and acquisitions call attention to price increases.