Opinion: Reimagining the Paper | The Scientist Magazine®

"In its original conception, the paper described a specific observation or experiment. The publication of papers in journals shortened the time between observation and knowledge dissemination, accelerating further discovery and the evolution of scientific concepts and methods. This complemented the peer-review process by limiting the ability of false scientific beliefs from finding early adopters without swift public challenge. 

But papers have since become more complex, negating many of these benefits—and even creating new challenges. Shifting the focus of a paper from narration to empiricism would lead to more robust communications and higher data quality....

Today’s papers seem to be gradually morphing into the books they were intended to replace...."