The juciest nugget, perhaps, is what Peter Coles says about the UK’s REF (Research Excellence Framework):
We also need to recognise the extent to which the Research Excellence Framework (REF) feeds the academic journal racket. The REF is a system of allocating research funding to university-based researchers based on the “quality” of their recent publications. To be considered for the REF, a paper has to be published in a recognised academic journal, which almost certainly means it will be hidden away behind an extremely expensive paywall.
The publishers must be rubbing their hands in glee at the mountain of papers researchers are being forced to generate in order to satisfy the demands of the REF panels. In my view, research funded by the taxpayer should be made available free of charge to whoever wants to read it, not handed over to outfits like Elsevier as a source of easy profit. If I had my way, in fact, the REF would reject any publication not freely available to the public.