Research papers, white papers and reports
Your research, explained accurately on video.
Explain a Paper turns academic papers, white papers and technical, policy and impact reports into short, narrated, captioned explainer videos, so the ideas reach people outside the field.
For universities, companies, think tanks, charities and public bodies: anyone with work that deserves a wider audience. The videos stay on brand, and nothing goes out until you have approved the script.
- Two sign-offs, not sixAn agency explainer asks for your sign-off at five or six stages. Here you approve a script and accept the video, and we do the rest.
- Built, not generatedNo made-up facts: every word, number and chart on screen comes from the paper, not from a model's guess.
- You can edit every scriptYou have full control: edit the narration, and say what you want to see at each point in the video. Nothing is rendered until you approve it.
- Captioned and accessibleCaptions and a transcript with every video. Captions can be translated into any language, and multilingual voiceovers are on our roadmap.
Who it's for
Anyone who needs a paper or a report understood by people outside its field: the public, customers, investors, funders, policymakers or colleagues in another discipline.
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Universities and research institutes
Research-communications teams and press offices keeping up with what their researchers publish, and researchers who want a video of their own paper.
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Industry and technology
White papers, R&D and technical reports, explained for customers, investors and colleagues who are not specialists.
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Think tanks, charities and public bodies
Policy briefs, evaluations and impact or sustainability reports, explained for the public, funders and decision-makers.
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Consultancies and professional bodies
Reports, guidance and technical standards, explained for clients and members who need the substance without the full document.
Helping research reach more people
Research is only useful when it is understood, and most papers are written for, and read by, specialists in their own field. We built Explain a Paper to help researchers convey their ideas, and to support public understanding of science and technology and the wider spread of ideas.
Findings that travel
A short, accurate video helps a paper's findings reach the public, policymakers, funders and colleagues in other disciplines, in words they can follow.
Impact and engagement
A captioned video is easy to share and easy to count: evidence of public engagement and impact for funders, and a natural partner to open-access and open-science work.
Within a researcher's reach
We price it to be within reach of researchers and small comms teams, not as a premium service: £39 a video, before VAT.
Built, not generated
Generative AI video models paint every frame, so they can invent a number, a label or a result that sounds right but is not in the paper. We do not use them. Each frame is built from the paper's own words and data, so what the video shows can be checked against the source, line by line.
1,220 videos rendered, using an estimated 700 kWh and about 13–44 kg CO2e less than an AI video model would have, our own AI drafting included (our numbers).
No made-up facts
Our software draws only what is in the script you approve, and the script is written from the paper, with the page, table or figure behind each line noted so you can check it against the source.
Typeset, not painted
Every word on screen is typeset, so there is no garbled lettering and no text that is not in the script you approved.
Plotted from the paper
Charts are plotted from the paper's own numbers. In our pilot video of Hubble's 1929 paper, all 24 nebulae come from his Table 1.
Drawn deliberately
Diagrams are drawn in code to show what the script says, not generated to look plausible. Labels stay legible and say what they are meant to.
Why AI video models get text, numbers and charts wrong, and how we keep videos true to the paper.
AI-facilitated, not AI-generated
AI helps where it is useful. People decide what the video says.
You can edit every script
Our specialised AI agents draft a script from the paper and send it to you. Then it is yours to edit. You have full control: change the narration, and say what you want to see at each point in the video. Nothing is rendered until you approve it, so what the video says is what you approved. For videos that will be published widely, you can add human review: one of our editors checks it against the paper and signs it off.
An honest, synthetic narrator
Choose from 28 high-quality synthetic voices in English: British and American, women and men, with different pitches and paces. Listen to each one on the order form. The voices run efficiently on our own machines, and every video says its narrator is synthetic. How we use AI.
How it works
Four steps from a paper to a video you can publish.
Upload the paper
Send the PDF and tell us who the video is for: the public, customers, investors, policymakers or specialists in another field.
Read the script
We send you a draft script written for that audience. Add human review if you want an editor to check it against the paper first.
Edit it, then approve it
Edit the narration and say what you want to see, or ask us for changes. Nothing is rendered until you approve it.
Get your video
A narrated, captioned video with a transcript, ready for YouTube, LinkedIn and your website. 3 revision rounds are included; a round is one complete render of your video.
The whole process, from paper upload to finished video, takes just a few minutes. How long it takes.
No booking in, no briefing call, and no waiting the one to three weeks that published video abstracts quote for a first cut that may still need another round of revisions. Your video arrives while the news is still news: ready for a press release, an embargo lift, a conference deadline, a funder report or a launch.
Pricing
One video, a pack of credits to spend across several papers or reports, or a monthly plan for a team. Prices exclude VAT.
Single video
£39
£46.80 inc. VATOne video, with 3 revision rounds.
Full pack
£179
£214.80 inc. VATSix video credits to spend across several papers or reports, valid for 12 months.
Enterprise
from £399/month
from £478.80/month inc. VAT15 videos a month in your own brand, for up to 5 colleagues. Human review is an option, not included.
Tell us what you would like explained
Upload a paper or report today and we will send you the draft script to review.