Mathematical articles and bottled water

Abstract

The system for publishing mathematical articles should be reformed and the new system should resemble, on the economic side, the bottled water industry. My main theses are: (i) the results of the mathematical research should be available to the public just like tap water, (ii) the role of the commercial (and non-commercial) publishers should be to sell an upgraded version of the product ("bottled water"), and (iii) only a coordinated action of big and powerful institutions (i.e., universities and the government) can bring about the change to the system.