I would be interested in this. I come from an art background and many people use aldaily.com to get a sort of curated collection of articles. But adding the voting from HN would be interesting.
That said, you are right that academics are protective. Much of what they are actually interested in is pay-walled as well.
That said, you are right that academics are protective. Much of what they are actually interested in is pay-walled as well.