These things are super expensive. The value they provide is a network effect --> prestige from history + high quality peers reviewing the work that's published
The elite universities can "make this" themselves -- they did something like this in philosophy (led out of Michigan) when I was in grad school:
The reality is these days that most/all papers are shared online in these PDF exchanges long before 'real' publication. And as a result the journal articles hardly matter as much.
I would guess this is most true for stuff with less lab work and more "pencil" work like math or logic or philosophy.
The elite universities can "make this" themselves -- they did something like this in philosophy (led out of Michigan) when I was in grad school:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophers%27_Imprint
The reality is these days that most/all papers are shared online in these PDF exchanges long before 'real' publication. And as a result the journal articles hardly matter as much.
I would guess this is most true for stuff with less lab work and more "pencil" work like math or logic or philosophy.