Not trying to break down the exact specifics of the journal business model, just trying to show there’s no such thing as a free lunch peer reviewed journal.

If you want anything of even the most mediocre of quality, there will be fees. Personally I’m fine with the fees being paid by the researchers as just a small part of the cost of doing research - it also incentivizes them to not try and publish utter garbage. One could try and crowd-fund a journal, but I don’t really see how that’s much better than putting the burden on the research teams.

What I’m not okay with and needs to be fixed is anyone having to pay to view the results of publicly funded research. If my tax dollars are supporting this effort, I deserve to know that was learned.