[hgomersall]

I've lamented this effect of the paper writing process for some time. I think a paper should present the steps taken by the authors to arrive at the new results, not just the new results in isolation. Those steps often provide so much useful insight.

[einpoklum]

I think so too, but then, (many/most) papers will need to be 2x or 3x longer - which is fine by me, but conferences and journals have strict length limits.

[gsinclair]

Maybe the scratch notes could be published outside of the paper itself. It’s not an ideal solution, of course, because links can go stale. But maybe it’s a starting point.

[hgomersall]

Or better still, stop pretending there's any real limit on how long a publication can be.