To me, the main problem with papers in their current shape is that they are required to be more or less self-contained. When one wants to state a result that improves a little bit the knowledge in a well established field, he has to waste time and space stating the definitions and preliminary results necessary to understand his result. This is counterproductive both for the author and the reader interested only in the small new bit of information.
If papers were collaborative, one could simply propose his improvements directly where they fit in the reference paper, without having to write one from scratch, and readers would be immediately aware of these follow-up results, without having to search in dozens of papers.
If papers were collaborative, one could simply propose his improvements directly where they fit in the reference paper, without having to write one from scratch, and readers would be immediately aware of these follow-up results, without having to search in dozens of papers.