Graham Harman has an interesting series of posts on self-publishing articles (or open-access publishing). Initial thoughts here; a second-thought here; and a response and his thoughts on that. Part of this is, as he acknowledges, the security that being a full-professor gives.

I agree with the general sentiment and parts of this – and, in part, this is due to my own career position. With some publications I just don’t see the benefit in publishing behind a paywall – book reviews are the most obvious example, but commentaries are another. We have moved all single book reviews to the Society and Space open site, for instance, and are trying to get more commentaries up there too. The readership for these is much greater than in the print journal. The last couple of book reviews I’ve written have been for open access sites.

I’m not so sure…