Journal plays with peer review

Ever wondered it would be like to tell a journal "nah, I don't think I want reviewers to re-review my manuscript"? Well, now you can -- in a new experimental policy, the linkurl:Journal of Biology;http://jbiol.com/ is giving authors the option of asking the journal to publish their revised paper without the okay of reviewers. In other words, once they have revised the manuscript, they can bypass a second review, a process that typically tacks on extra time. According to the journal's publisher, BioMed Central, the editors will "carefully scrutinize revised manuscripts," and if authors have addressed "substantive issues," the journal will publish the article with an accompanying "minireview in which any flaws in the paper may be highlighted." "Of course journals must do their best to ensure that the research they publish is valid, but the primary function of a journal editor is to promote the dissemination of research results,...