Got Negative Data? PLoS ONE Wants To Publish It!

There has been substantial recent lamentation concerning the nature of scientific publishing, and the perceived requirement that experimental results “tell a story” in order to be published in the peer-reviewed literature. For example, The Bean Mom recently stated the following:

The data that’s confusing, that doesn’t fit a paper’s hypothesis, usually isn’t published. No suprise–why would any author include data that contradicts or confuses the story she/he is trying to tell? Negative results usually also aren’t published. That transgeneic mouse with no phenotype? Will probably languish unknown. But if the experiements were rigorous and carefully controlled, then even puzzling and negative data is valid data. And when that data is not communicated, it can be to the detriment of the whole scientific community, as researchers waste time and money heading down blind ends . . .