Contribute
Write for START
START briefs are written by working academics, about research in their own field, and checked by a second academic before publication. If that sounds like you, this page explains exactly how it works — no surprises, no fine print.
Who can contribute
Current academics
You're a researcher or academic at an accredited college, university, or research institution, and you write about the field you actually work in. That's the core requirement, and it isn't negotiable — it's what makes a START byline mean something.
Graduate students
PhD candidates can write about their own research area. For master's students, we ask that a faculty member joins as co-author. Undergraduate work isn't eligible yet.
Emeritus and independent researchers
Retired faculty and independent researchers with a genuine publication record are reviewed case by case. A career of peer-reviewed work counts; a personal theory does not.
We screen every contributor for conflicts of interest. If you're employed by an advocacy organisation, or funded by a party with a stake in what you'd be writing about, tell us up front — it doesn't always disqualify the work, but hiding it does.
From application to byline
Apply
Sign up as a contributor with your field. Use your institutional email — it's the fastest way for us to confirm who you are.
Get verified
A person — not an algorithm — checks your affiliation and published work. Expect an email within a few days. We keep verification human on purpose: it's slower, and it's the reason readers can trust the byline.
Pitch, don't draft
Send us the published, peer-reviewed paper you want to translate, one sentence on why a general reader should care, and a short outline — 200 words is plenty. Don't write the full brief yet. Pitching first protects your time: we agree on scope before you invest in a draft.
Write, get vetted, approve
You draft against our brief format. A second academic checks the draft against the source — not for style, for faithfulness. And nothing publishes until you approve the final text. Your name, your words. Always.
The brief format
Every brief follows the same rules. They exist so that a reader can trust any brief on the site without knowing who wrote it.
Short and plain
600–900 words, written so an interested sixteen-year-old could follow it. Translation is not simplification: remove the jargon, keep the meaning. If a technical term is genuinely load-bearing, keep it — and explain it in one line.
Every claim anchored
Each factual claim links inline to the source that supports it — the original paper first, other peer-reviewed work where needed. No footnotes, no "studies show." If you can't link it, don't claim it.
Informative, never persuasive
Briefs report what the research found, how confidently, and what it doesn't say. No hot takes, no policy prescriptions, no advocacy. Where the evidence is uncertain or contested, the brief says so plainly — that's a feature of the format, not a weakness of your writing.
Disclosed
Every brief carries a disclosure statement: your funding, affiliations, and any conflicts relevant to the topic. Most disclosures are one boring sentence. We will not publish a brief without one.