You are confusing two things here: 1) the problems that for-profit journals bring, and 2) the supposed problems that all academic journals have, regardless of whether they are published by a for-profit or a non-profit publisher.
In certain fields, journals continue to be published by non-profit learned societies that now, in the digital era, make their articles freely available to all. And they certainly do verify what they publish inasmuch as the peer review process is rigorous and challenging, and even the most esteemed authors end up having to make major corrections to the paper to pass that review.
If you think journals as a vetted, reputable venue for scientific debate no longer have a place, just go look at Academia.edu today where anyone can sign up and participate in discussion sessions. The result: crackpots, cranks, and wacko alt-history or racist/nationalist extremists take over those discussion sessions, drowning out the actual scholars. Thank goodness for journals.
In certain fields, journals continue to be published by non-profit learned societies that now, in the digital era, make their articles freely available to all. And they certainly do verify what they publish inasmuch as the peer review process is rigorous and challenging, and even the most esteemed authors end up having to make major corrections to the paper to pass that review.
If you think journals as a vetted, reputable venue for scientific debate no longer have a place, just go look at Academia.edu today where anyone can sign up and participate in discussion sessions. The result: crackpots, cranks, and wacko alt-history or racist/nationalist extremists take over those discussion sessions, drowning out the actual scholars. Thank goodness for journals.