Nature Does it Again: It's all about access and sharing of scientific information

Here is Timo Hannay, Nature's Director of Web Publishing's email to Tim O'Reilly explaining the new Nature Precedings initiative.

"[Nature Precedings] will enable researchers to share, discuss and cite their early findings. It provides a lightly moderated and relatively informal channel for scientists to disseminate information, especially recent experimental results and emerging conclusions. In this sense, it is designed to complement traditional peer-reviewed journals, allowing researchers to make informal communications such as conference papers or presentations more widely available and enabling them to be formally cited. This, in turn, allows them to solicit community feedback and establish priority over their results or ideas." via Nascent

I agree with Tim O'Reilly 's conclusion in terms of bold moves by Nature's team:

"They are consistently the boldest and most innovative of publishers -- and it's so rare to see a market leader with Nature's unparalleled reputation taking such risks. It's truly inspiring."