Mike Dunford (The Questionable Authority) launched into a tirade against big scientific publishers whose pricing structures have forced many university libraries to cut back on journal subscriptions, thus hampering the ability of many scientists to work effectively. He makes this comparison:
[T]he situation that I've described with journal prices is similar to the gasoline analogy I presented. Both are necessities (at least under certain circumstances). Both have been increasing in price. And the providers of both are making large profits, while their customers suffer.
That's where the analogy ends, though, because scientists are not only the end customers for journals, they're also the people who provide the content. For free. If you want to continue the analogy, you'd have to pretend that during the whole time that gas prices and profits have been rising you were spending five or ten hours a week working on an oil rig, and that you're doing it without pay.
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The relationship between publishers and the scientific community is not a partnership. It's parasitic.
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