Because in a lot of hiring processes the worth of the researchers is based on this streer cred. It’s a messed up system.
Even more messed up is that journals that do try to be more open about their procedures and that don’t try to make a profit are marginalized or in some cases even not indexed. For example, eLife no longer has an impact factor calculated because it’s experimenting with a publishing model that disincentivises profit and some other undesirable things in academic publishing.











Putin made sure Western countries currently don’t want to use Russian fossil products. Ukraine is making sure that they can never be used again.