Manuscripts are the primary basis of scholarly communication, yet the process of creating them has not kept in step with the advancement of technology or the evolving best-practices of science.

Traditionally, authoring of manuscripts takes place in a closed manner. While most scientific material is eventually distributed to some kind of public medium, the process of developing and reviewing the material is usually done in private, contained to a handful of individuals. The tools used are often outmoded, restrictive, and overall poorly-suited for the task of collaborative, scientific writing. The time it takes to review and publish can be unreasonably long.

We believe that this process is antiquated and must be reformed. Good science depends upon many things that the conventional approach doesn't provide: A diversity of input and perspectives. Spontaneous and cross-discipline contributions. Organic and wide-spread discovery and dissemination of knowledge. The fostering of a free, global information commons. A method of real-time, continuous science, performed entirely in the open.

Current technology easily affords huge advantages over the old way of doing things, both in convenience and in the quality of the result. Manubot is a solution to the past and a push towards a future ideal, where scientific writing is transparent, reproducible, immediate, permissionless, versioned, automated, collaborative, open, linked, provenanced, decentralized, hackable, interactive, annotated, and free of charge.