[Vinnl]

Funders have been relying on publishers to tell them (by means of who they publish) what researchers are worth funding. This is keeping up the pressure for academics to keep publishing in paywalled journals.

There is some pressure to both make research not paywalled (Plan S is the strongest) and less costly. However, given that most of the funders' researchers can access most relevant research (albeit rather clumsily, thanks to the access mechanisms, and not 100%, hence Sci-Hub even being popular among those who do have access), and that the extracted rent on the scale of a country budget isn't that much, the pressure isn't particularly strong. Additionally, it's hard for a single funder/country to move on its own without ruining their academics' careers (hence Plan S's focus on signing on more funders).