Science is always unfinished: rethinking the demand for complete stories.

Key Points

• The essay explores the implications of requiring complete narratives in scientific publication, arguing for the value of unfinished stories.
• Analysis of the impact of narrative structure on science communication.
• Discussion of the consequences of mandating mechanistic completeness in journal submissions.
• Examination of the potential for overfitting data to create complete narratives.
• Proposes that strict narrative completeness can hinder important discoveries.
• Highlights the need for flexibility in storytelling to facilitate timely research dissemination.
• Suggests rigorous yet unfinished narratives can still convey significant scientific insights.

Abstract