The other ridiculous thing is that a big chunk (majority?) of the research getting published is supported by public grants. In the United States that means NSF (Natl. Science Foundation), NIH (Natl. Institutes of Health), DOD (Dept. of Defense), and so on. Thus, not only are the publishers asking extortionate rates for access to the research, money which goes 100% to the publisher, not the authors nor the peer reviewers nor the volunteer journal editors nor the universities; the icing on the cake is that YOU HAVE ALREADY PAID FOR THIS RESEARCH through your tax dollars
![Face Palm :palm:](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/facepalm.gif)
To their credit, a handful of public funding agencies have instituted mandatory open access requirements. This is mostly in biomedical research, and seems not to have touched most of what gets published in IEEE journals.
Seriously, just use Sci-Hub! Consider it training on the difference between legality and morality. And if you are currently in academia, please make sure that all of your publications are freely available in PDF format on your university's web site, or your own. (These should be "preprints", although I have never heard of action taken against a researcher by the IEEE regardless.) Mass public disobedience is the only way this situation is going to change.
(my credibility: PhD in EE and several papers in IEEE journals)