MARS: The International Journal of Mars Science and Exploration (a.k.a. The Mars Journal) combines a couple of my obsessions. It doesn't take many weeks of reading WorldChanging to learn that I'm an Areophile (Greek for "Mars Geek"); in addition, we also post here with some frequency about open-access academic literature. The Mars Journal is a new open-access publication, currently funded by NASA, providing peer-reviewed publication of scholarly papers about the Red Planet. Open-access means that all papers and supporting data can be read freely; contrast this to traditional scholarly publications like Nature and Science, where links to their papers generally have to say "subscribers only."

The Mars Journal is new, and is currently calling for papers. Issue areas it will cover include Mars Science (no surprise), Mars Technology, and Mars Policy, including discussions of "planetary protection." Author information and templates are available.