Scholarly societies are a place where the members, the scientists, should have clout to affect change. Unfortunately, many societies have contracted with for-profit publishers (Wiley, Blackwell, Elsevier) to manage their journal. This lock-in to a cash flow and contract has made it difficult for the society leadership to re-envision their business as builders of a community of practice and intellectual pursuit able to enhance knowledge sharing among their members. Here, finally, is an article stating the case for change and its arguments support the principles behind JournalFire.
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Chris Armbruster, Moving out of Oldenbourg's long shadow: what is the future for society publishing? Abstract: "The Internet and the rise of e-Science alter the conditions for scholarly communication. In signing declarations against open access mandates, society publishers indicate that they feel most threatened by the emergence of institutional repositories and the self-archiving mandates that these make possible. More attention should be paid to the impact of e-Science, the rise of Internet-based guild publishers, and the entrance of players from the new economy. Society journals should stop aspiring to such functions as registration and archiving and should shed electronic dissemination, while enhancing certification and investing in (new) navigation services."

Armbruster, Chris, "Society Publishing, the Internet and Open Access: Shifting Mission-Orientation from Content Holding to Certification and Navigation Services?" (July 2007).
Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=997819

The October issue of Learned Publishing is now online with the following article included:
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/alpsp/lp
(LP provides OA after an embargo period - 1 year)