Scientific progress today is a collective task. Faculty working in different institutions collaborate, directly or using extant research published by their colleagues, on the development of the body of knowledge of a scientific paradigm. The scientific communication system (SCS) allows that invisible college to communicate; therefore we consider it a cornerstone of the research system, and a key resource for the advance of science. In that editorial note we show the main threats for the future of the SCM. We describe the evolution of the roles of the main agents involved: publishers, academics, suppliers of bibliometric information and the public sector. We argue that initiatives such as SPARC or the creation of open access journals can contribute to the development of an effective SCS in the future.