Rapid publication seems like an obvious imperative for scientific debate in the digital era. Most, if not all, science publishers aim to shorten the process between first submission and final publication of articles. However, while minimizing editorial handling and post-acceptance processing certainly reduces the time between research being conducted and being read, a “fast-food” publication model may sacrifice quality in the editorial process. We encourage adoption of “slow publishing” for most research journals, where advancing towards higher quality – rather than towards a faster rate – of scientific debate is promoted as a central goal of the editorial and review process.