The situation the author describes is one of the reasons why we cannot (yet) get rid of Elsevier and the other scientific publishers. They are no longer needed for the dissemination of new research. But they are the keeper of the archive.
We don‘t know which works are going to be important for future generations. And just putting out a „PDF on the net“ will be gone in 20 years if there is no publishing house maintaining the original copy.
Arxiv could also take on that role.
But not for the last 300 years of existing research in the publishers archives.
We don‘t know which works are going to be important for future generations. And just putting out a „PDF on the net“ will be gone in 20 years if there is no publishing house maintaining the original copy.
Arxiv could also take on that role. But not for the last 300 years of existing research in the publishers archives.