PLoS ONE

One of my favorite journals has always been Behavioral and Brain Sciences with its target articles followed by peer-reviewed commentary

Aside: For an excellent example, check out Shors and Matzel’s “Long-term Potentiation: What’s learning got to do with it?” 20:597 (1997).

In any case, the Public Library of Science now has something similar in the works that will be called PLoS ONE (click the link above).

Money quote:
“With PLoS ONE, papers need no longer be static markers in an ongoing process of scientific discovery, but the beginning of a conversation between authors and readers alike. Authors looking back on papers written 6 months or a year ago may see things that they would have written differently; new data may have arisen to strengthen or alter some of the conclusions. PLoS ONE will provide authors with opportunities to make those changes and so acknowledge the evolution of their ideas. This will not alter the scientific record–the original paper is still the original paper–but authors and readers can build upon it. And anyone with an interest can read and benefit from this.”