A lot of journals are starting to do this. For example PNAS (a top ranking journal) introduced a required "significance statement" in addition to an abstract, w

A lot of journals are starting to do this. For example PNAS (a top ranking journal) introduced a required "significance statement" in addition to an abstract, which is meant to be understood by a more general audience. So do the PloS journals, and many others. http://www.pnas.org/site/authors/procedures.xhtml#significance http://www.pnas.org/site/authors/procedures.xhtml#significan... http://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/s/submission-guidelines#loc-author-summary http://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/s/submission-guideline... PLoS says "The goal is to make your findings accessible to a wide audience that includes both scientists and non-scientists", and PNAS says it is meant to "explain the relevance of the work in broad context to a broad readership."