From Storytelling to Truth-Telling: Narrative Integrity in Science Communication

Science storytelling can make evidence intelligible, memorable, and culturally resonant, yet persuasive narratives may still misrepresent how scientific knowledge is produced. This commentary argues that communicators need a standard beyond narrative trust: narrative integrity. The concept evaluates whether a story preserves science’s uncertainty, multicausality, collective labor, provisional conclusions, and capacity for revision. Drawing on research on transportation, framing, anecdotal bias, and processing fluency, we explain how narrative form can outrun evidence even when individual claims are accurate. We then propose six principles for designing stories that remain engaging while representing scientific inquiry honestly, transparently, and responsibly to diverse public audiences.