In a previous IJIC editorial they reflected on the fact that we have yet to make any significant breakthrough to understand the implementation and sustainability of complex service innovations that so characterise the development of integrated care programmes [1]. Without such knowledge we might be able to explain the core building blocks of integrated care systems, but we cannot adequately explain the intricacies of effective implementation nor fully understand the causes of the outcomes we observe. This article show how this is not simply a methodological problem but reflects a more deep-rooted challenge in the lack of value that is placed both in the commissioning of such research and the findings that are produced.