If there are that many people out there that came to academia to get rich, they are up for a very rude awakening.
I don’t think the issue with LAP is not that it doesn’t pay you… None of the other publishers will pay you either! The question is whether LAP is the best place to publish in order to get your hard work known to others, get you recognition in the scientific community, and actually be an important item in your CV? The answer will depend on the quality of your work and probably also on your particular field. If your work is solid (sometimes, even if it isn’t but let’s not go there) and there are peer-reviewed journals in your field, the answer will be: probably not.
Yes, a panel of experts evaluated your dissertation but you can’t really say they were unbiased! One of the those experts is your advisor (your success reflect on him/her), the others are probably other professors from the same institution (again, your success as an alumnus/alumna reflects on the institution) and one will be from another institution but will be connected professionally to your advisor in some way. They are also evaluating the overall work. Some portions of it often are not really “publishing quality”.
The peer-review by a publication is a validation of the work by experts that do not have an invested interest (this meaning: not your graduate committee!) on having it published or not. Your advisor (almost for sure) and sometimes other elements of the graduate committee (if they made a significant contribution for the work) are usually co-authors in these publications, I would certainly say they have invested interest in getting a publication with their name out.
They had a little less than ethical approach with me. But regardless of that, what I’m trying to say is that LAP should be a last resource. Be realist but don’t sell yourself short. For those in biology this would mean: it is more than likely your dissertation can’t land you a article in Nature, but it is quite possible you can get it in a reputable or even the top journal in your field.
I just think it is a shame that a lot of very good work is being somewhat lost like that. How many of your peers will actually read your LAP publication. In general one should try to publish on the same places it got the references from. Most of my references are from peer-reviewed journals, if most of your references are from LAP publications then go for it.
