Hello Simon T!
The problem with the Buddhist/Indian philosophy is that it found itself trap in psychology and study of religion. Those ideas belong to science and the target audience for the Dharma is naturally scientifically-minded people. People interested in eliminating bias from their work. And the self is the ultimate bias.
Religion and secular studies (like the sciences) are exposed equally to the same operator (human) flaws: power plays, possessiveness, conceit and so forth.
Social study and religion can be excellent frames, too. For example, much study of mind has been preserved through thousands of years due to religious framework and devout/studious persons in the major traditions. Sometimes the higher standard of preserving information without the corrosive of conceit is held by members of religious traditions and sometimes the higher standard is held by those in the secular body -- and many, many people find themselves open to all camps, because simply in acknowledging "not knowing everything" and respecting the variety of ways of study and awe.
The concerns I have for this project are two and they regard form:
1) Conceit in regards to form:
Form can be taken possessively and conceitedly by each party (e.g., the parable of the six blindfolded persons touching different areas of an elephant). I think the antidote is a conviction in sincere respect, the
Golden Rule in several traditions. Continually protecting against this natural human trait --- conceit and superiority --- would be key for a credible, motivating investigative journal.
For seeing how research in multiple forms (such as as theistic prayer and buddhist meditation) are being shared openly, one can follow research presented by the
Mind and Life Institute each year.
2) Reification of forms:
tai chi, musical training, race-care driving, etc --- many forms are studying a similar personal experience: the mind and body changing as they each become more skilled in a particular practice, approaching what has been called "flow" in a modern secular parlance --- something that often has gradients of ineffability and "beyond my doing" to it.
Both points are helped by the machinery of evolving scientific forms, even if they cannot measure too accurately just what's happening --- just as the Greeks worked with electricity very differently in comparison to our use of what is still a largely unknown phenomena today. In meditation studies, I think it very likely that practitioners from various traditions and practices will have similar MRI results, for example, or similar changes to markers of inflammation. It may be that theistic prayer/faith and jhana are producing a similar anti-inflammatory response and that those with certain fMRI results are really nice people to be around and that their respective forms are not predictors of their prosocial awesomeness.
Anyway, a project like this can have a long, useful life. The last decade of open-source has taught so much about keeping an open mind and working across forms, changing forms.