Got just a single observation? New journal will publish it | Science/AAAS | News

 "...Experiences made [Lawrence] Rajendran wonder:

Was the pressure to publish tempting authors to improperly tweak their findings in order to create more cohesive stories? If researchers could report just the one finding they felt comfortable with, Rajendran mused, perhaps “there would be no need to be dishonest.” Those ponderings eventually spurred the creation of Matters.

Launched on 5 November, the open-access online journal aims to boost integrity and speed the communication of science by allowing researchers to publish discrete observations rather than complete stories. “Observations, not stories, are the pillars of good science,” the journal’s editors write on Matters’ website. “Today's journals however, favor story-telling over observations, and congruency over complexity … Moreover, incentives associated with publishing in high-impact journals lead to loss of scientifically and ethically sound observations that do not fit the storyline, and in some unfortunate cases also to fraudulence.” “We want to reward scientists for honesty, curiosity and the quality of their work—not just good storytelling,” Rajendran says."

For the full article and discussion of the new crowd-sourced, open science OA journal, Matters, please read the full article!