> 2. The value proposition was that they were the only way to publish research.
Was this ever actually the case? Researchers have always published on their own in one way or another. What these journals added was an established peer review mechanism.
Sure, academics have always self-published, but unless you were already a prominent researcher, publishing in a journal was the way to get a wide readership (or at-least by available in the library.)
Was this ever actually the case? Researchers have always published on their own in one way or another. What these journals added was an established peer review mechanism.