Explain a Paper home

Pricing

Simple prices, known up front.

Buy one video, a pack of credits to spend across several papers, or a monthly plan for your team. Every video includes 3 revision rounds; a round is one complete render of your video.

Prices exclude VAT. The VAT-inclusive figure is shown below each one, and VAT is worked out for your location at checkout.

Videos and packs

Credits from a pack can be spent on any paper, by anyone on your account, for 12 months from purchase.

Single video

1 video credit

£39

£46.80 inc. VAT

For one paper. Includes 3 revision rounds, captions and a transcript.

Buy a video

Video pack

3 video credits

£99

£118.80 inc. VAT

For a project, a research group or a small run of reports. Each video includes 3 revision rounds.

Buy the pack
Best value

Full pack

6 video credits

£179

£214.80 inc. VAT

For a team spreading credits across several papers or reports. Each video includes 3 revision rounds.

Buy the pack

Any length up to 5 minutes

Any length up to 5 minutes for the price of a one-minute video. Choose a target of 1, 2, 3 or 5 minutes when you order; the video runs no longer than that, and it uses one video credit whatever its length.

Need a longer video, or one covering several papers? Contact us about 30 or 60 minute videos, or a video spanning several papers, such as a research archive.

Shorts

A set of 3 vertical Shorts made from the same paper, for YouTube Shorts, TikTok and Instagram Reels. Each opens on a hook and says one thing in plain language. Order them instead of the widescreen video, or with it.

At no extra charge. We may charge for Shorts in future. We'll tell you before we do, and it won't affect videos you've already ordered.

Add-ons, per video

Optional extras. Add any of them to a video from your dashboard, whenever you need them.

Extra revision round

One more complete render of your video, or one more rework of the script by us, once the 3 included rounds are used. Your own script edits are free.

£19

£22.80 inc. VAT

Human review

One of our editors checks it against the paper and signs it off before you approve it. Revised scripts are reviewed again. Add it any time before you approve the script.

£99

£118.80 inc. VAT

Stills for your website

Up to 10 still images from your video, each taken as a scene is complete, at full size and as smaller web images, with alt text suggestions and a ZIP of them all. Tick it when you order, or add it once your video is ready.

£4.99

£5.99 inc. VAT

Slides (PowerPoint)

A PowerPoint of your video's scenes, with each element as a separate piece you can move and edit, and the narration as speaker notes. It ends on the AI disclosure and the paper's credit.

£4.99

£5.99 inc. VAT

Lesson pack

A lesson page made from your video, with a teaching pack: teacher notes, a worksheet, an answer key and glossary cards, the slides with questions added, the video and its captions. Tick it when you order, or add it once your video is ready. You approve the lesson before you share or download it.

£4.99

£5.99 inc. VAT

Storage plan

From 1 November 2026, we keep each new video for 3 months after delivery, then delete it. A storage plan keeps all your account's videos, with the stills and slides you have bought, for as long as you pay for it. Cancel at any time from your account, in one step; when it ends, the 3 months start again from the end of the month you paid for.

£4.99/month

£5.99/month inc. VAT

How long we keep videos: from 1 November 2026, 3 months from delivery for a video bought on its own or in a pack, then it is deleted, with its source paper. We email you a month and a week before. Stills and slides can be added only while we still hold the video. Videos you download are yours to keep. Videos ordered before 1 November 2026, or with credits bought before then, are kept until you delete them. The full rules.

Two columns. Uses a revision round: each complete render of your video, the first one included, and asking us to rework the script. Never uses one: your own script edits, and fixing our own mistakes.
A revision round is one complete render of your video, or one more rework of the script by us.

Human review is a process: a second person checking the script against the paper. It does not replace your own approval, which is always the final check before a video is rendered.

Options for your video

Choose them on the order form; each is a one-off add-on to one video. Some can also be added later from your video's page.

A video in another language

The narration, captions and words on screen in Spanish, French, Italian or Brazilian Portuguese, written by machine from your source. You approve the script in that language as you would an English one. Priced per language: your video's own language, and each further version of the whole video.

£4.99

£5.99 inc. VAT

Translated captions

An extra caption track in another language, translated by machine from your video's captions, in the player's captions menu and in your downloads. Priced per language.

£4.99

£5.99 inc. VAT

A visual style

Any style other than clean motion graphics: whiteboard, sketchbook, blueprint, paper cut-out or pinboard. Your brand's colours, logo and fonts are kept.

£4.99

£5.99 inc. VAT

Music and sound effects

A quiet music bed under the narration, with short sound effects as each picture appears if you like. Music, with sound effects or without, is one add-on.

£4.99

£5.99 inc. VAT

Your own narration

Record the approved script yourself, in one file or scene by scene, and we set the video to your voice.

£4.99

£5.99 inc. VAT

Cutdowns and other shapes

Shorter cuts of 15, 30 or 60 seconds made of your video's own scenes, and square, portrait and vertical versions for social feeds with the captions burned in. Every cut and shape you order for a video is one add-on.

£4.99

£5.99 inc. VAT

Stand loop

A silent loop of 30 to 90 seconds for a screen on an exhibition stand, made of your video's own headings and drawings.

£4.99

£5.99 inc. VAT

Your own images

Screenshots, product photographs or diagrams of your own, shown in the scenes they belong in. One add-on however many you add.

£4.99

£5.99 inc. VAT

Storyboard

A drawing of every scene beside its narration, to comment on before you approve the script and we make the video. Tick it when you order, or ask for one while your script waits for approval.

£4.99

£5.99 inc. VAT

Embeddable player

Put the video on your own website in our player, with its chapters and captions. It sets no cookies. A one-off add-on per video, with no subscription.

£4.99

£5.99 inc. VAT

Measured delivery times and verified customer reviews are part of the service, not add-ons.

For teams and organisations

Enterprise

from £399/month

from £478.80/month inc. VAT
  • 15 videos a month
  • A brand pack built by hand for your organisation: palette, typeface and logo (brand import is free on every order)
  • A shared account for up to 5 colleagues
  • 3 revision rounds with every video
  • Includes still images, slides and lesson packs for every video
  • Monthly, and you can cancel at the end of any month
  • Videos kept while you subscribe; if you stop, a month's full access, then an archive you can restore from for 11 months
Start a subscription For universities For organisations

Human review options

Human review is not included in the base plan. Choose it per video, or for every video.

Per video: £99 (£118.80 inc. VAT), added to the videos that will be published widely.

Review add-on (£749/month): every video submitted while the add-on is active gets human review, with no per-video charge. Switch it on or off from your team page.

Invoice and purchase order

Need to pay against a PO? We can set up your team and invoice you. Ask about invoicing: for organisations or for universities.

How we compare

What a one-minute research video costs

Explain a Paper: £39 + VAT (£46.80 inc. VAT) a video. Drawn by our own software from a script you can edit, with a synthetic narrator, captions, a transcript and 3 revision rounds.

Wiley Editing Services' Video Short: $525. That is the price Wiley publishes for a "1 minute overview of your work" on its page Academic Video Creation Services: Video Abstracts And Research Visualization (we checked it on 14 October 2026). Wiley says the Video Short uses stock imagery, music and subtitles, that a writer guides you through drafting the script, and that it is delivered in 7 business days. The price is in US dollars, and the page does not say whether tax is included.

The videos are made differently, so compare what each includes before you choose. Ours are drawn by our own software and narrated by a synthetic narrator. That is what keeps the price down, and it is why every word, number and chart on screen comes from the paper.

We built Explain a Paper to help researchers convey their ideas and to widen public understanding of science and technology. The research is theirs; our job is to help it reach more people, at a price a researcher or a small comms team can pay.

Prices can change. We keep a dated copy of the page we checked. You pay in pounds sterling.

Before you order

The order form asks for these, so it helps to have them ready. You can save a draft at any point and come back to it.

  • Your paper as a PDF. Up to 25 MB and not password-protected. Remove anything that could identify the people in your study first.
  • Who the video is for. The general public, policymakers, students or specialists in the field.
  • How long it should be. A target of 1, 2, 3 or 5 minutes. The video runs no longer than the length you choose.
  • A widescreen video, Shorts or both. One widescreen video, a set of 3 vertical Shorts for social media, or both.
  • What to emphasise. Optional: the finding, the number or the message that matters most to you.
  • The layout and the voice. Slides, full animation, a mix or your own slide design, and a narration voice, which you can listen to first.
  • What the video can show from your paper. Redrawn in our own words and drawings, or showing the paper's own pages and figures. For a video that shows the paper, how you hold the right to adapt it: for example you kept the copyright, the publisher has given permission, or the paper is under a CC BY licence.
  • Whether it is confidential or under embargo. And, for an embargo, the date it lifts.
  • Your brand. If you want the video in your own brand: your logos, colours and fonts, or your website's address for us to take them from.
  • Who is paying. Your own account or your team's. If the account has no video credits left, you can pay for the video by card when you submit it.

Good to know

  • Pack credits last 12 months. The enterprise allowance is monthly and does not roll over.
  • Consumers can cancel within 14 days of purchase; see the terms for how refunds work once a video is under way.
  • Once paid for, the video, captions and transcript are yours: download them and use or upload them anywhere. We can also upload the video to YouTube or another platform for you.
  • No registration or password: you sign in with a link we email you.
  • The whole process, from paper upload to finished video, takes just a few minutes. How long it takes.
  • Style options are included at no extra charge: full animation or a mixed layout, and your own layout from a slide design you upload. Voices are always free. We may charge for some style options in future. We'll tell you before we do, and it won't affect videos you've already ordered.
  • Your brand is free on every order: import your colours, fonts and logo from your website, or upload your logo, and check them in a preview before you order. How branding works.
  • Shorts, and any length up to 5 minutes, are included at no extra charge. We may charge for Shorts and longer videos in future. We'll tell you before we do, and it won't affect videos you've already ordered.
  • More questions? Read the FAQ or contact us.