I understand, It’s a huge task to replace the 150 year systems set in place, we can’t do it overnight, but I do believe that not enough academics talk about it. I am not sure why.
I agree with you on the second point too, I have never source-cited anything that wasn’t peer reviewed and published in a journal, I know other academics will agree. I was just giving a perspective on why academic writers in general might go through the alternative routes of publishing.
The academic publishing system is deeply flawed and we need to push for change from an EA standpoint.
As of now, we are losing thousands upon thousands of top-grade, peer-reviewed research articles that are stuck in obscure journals or self-published and read by nobody. This is due to the high cost of translation, publication, and open access fees, which are particularly prohibitive for researchers in the third world. We simply can’t afford to publish in high-impact journals unless we do self-funding or beg for foreign funds.
I believe the EA community has compassion for the injustice in the world, and I believe that we can be the push for that societal change. We need to prioritize knowledge and information above the corporate greed of publishers.
I probably will end up on the receiving end of donations (in some form or other :/ )rather than give myself some (Uh Oh, had like 4000$ of disposable income this year).
But If I had the funds I would donate to Sea Shepard, I like their proactive approach to animal suffering (in this case, marine wildlife). Who knows I might join them full-time one day even if my career is the complete opposite of being out there in the open sea.
Another one that comes in mind is International Network of Street papers and members of it, dependent on location they may vary. The business model is fairly simple and the investment per person is fairly low given that the return is so much more. The local paper here is running now for the past 10 years and their political involvement has helped a lot of people, directly and indirectly.
Another aspect is the direct help that the marginalized communities get from these street papers, at least here, the paper directly helps with rehabilitation and resocialization of their sellers (usually homeless/very low income/disabled people) and you can see this on their faces you can feel it in society on a wider scale.