As an employee at an open access publisher, I can't agree that funding the peer review process is the biggest problem. Our surveys of our own reviewers have shown that only a small (<20%) minority of reviewers wish to be paid a fee for their reviews. The majority of referees prefer the current model of crediting volunteer reviewers in a regularly published "acknowledgements" article. I assume the incentive may be that reviewers show these to their tenure committee.
In fact the most common complaint from peer reviewers is about the length of the review period. Because open-access journals have authors as our customers, the market pressure is to provide excellent customer service, and authors prefer publishers who will process their papers quickly. This pressure is passed on to reviewers who must complete reviews much faster than the old norms under Springer.
In fact the most common complaint from peer reviewers is about the length of the review period. Because open-access journals have authors as our customers, the market pressure is to provide excellent customer service, and authors prefer publishers who will process their papers quickly. This pressure is passed on to reviewers who must complete reviews much faster than the old norms under Springer.