A micropublication is a brief research article that describes a single result, method, or claim and enables researchers to quickly publish findings narrow in scope. In line with the best publishing practices, Impact Scholars’ research results are made freely accessible to the public and recorded under the researchers’ ORCID IDs for transparency and proper attribution. For reference, you can review micropublications published by previous scholars. You can also find out more in these platforms:

• Octopus

• Micropublication Biology

Submission Form

All teams are required to submit a micropublication at the end of the program using this form.

Deadline: 27 April 2026

Type of research

Each micropublication should provide evidence to support one specific:

• Claim: A well-supported statement or conclusion drawn from research data. This type of micropublication focuses on presenting evidence that supports a particular hypothesis or finding.
• Observation: A documented occurrence or pattern observed during research. This type is ideal for reporting interesting or unexpected findings that may not yet be fully understood but are valuable for the scientific community.
• Method: A description of a new or refined technique, procedure, or experimental approach that can be applied in research.

Please choose one of the above 3 options.

Title

Title should be up to 100 characters and clearly convey the main focus of the research conducted.

Author Contributions

We request all the teams to track author contributions using the CRediT taxonomy. Click on each of the 14 contributor roles to see what they constitute. We discourage giving credits to a scholar (including any former teaching assistant) or mentor if their participation does not meet the criteria of any contributor role. Instead, you are welcome to recognize their involvement using the Acknowledgement section of the Main Text.

• Format: .csv, .ods, or .tsv
• Templates: We are providing 2 templates to track author contributions throughout the program. Each team is required to submit author contributions in one of these 2 formats. Download one of the following templates for your team:
  • ISP_contributors_table_template: This template was adopted from tenzing.club.
  • ISP_contributors_table_template_granular: This is a replica of the previous template with more granularity added for each role. There are 2 types of contributions to choose from:
    • Lead: If a scholar has made major contributions in a role, choose this option. Multiple people can have this role.
    • Support: If a scholar has primarily provided support and feedback or helped with brainstorming but hasn’t made major contributions to the role, choose this option.
  • Feel free to leave blanks for Roles that aren’t relevant for your team.
  • Please use the Notes column to let us know of any specifics that aren’t captured in the 14 categories, such as additional roles or other degrees of contribution.

Keywords

• 3 to 4 keywords
• Describe the research topic, method, context.
• Make it easier to find research.
• Not contained in title.
• For help selecting keywords, please refer to the NASA GCMD for climate science and the Neuroscience glossary for neuroscience.

Main Text

Elaborate on the single claim, observation, or method based on the type of research you are presenting. Use Google Doc to write your micropublication.

You should use the provided template to help structure your micropublication effectively. Note that you cannot edit the template directly. Instead, go to File -> Make a copy to create your own editable version. Once you have your copy, be sure to share it with the rest of your team.

• Word Limit:1500 words. This does not include references, supplementary material, or acknowledgments.
• Format: .pdf
• References: Use Zotero as your reference manager to organize and format citations in APA 7th Edition. Zotero integrates seamlessly with Google Docs. For instructions on how to use Zotero and how to connect it to Google Docs, please watch this video.
• Acknowledgement: Include an acknowledgement section to recognize contributions from individuals who do not qualify as co-authors (e.g., mentors and scholars who contributed but did not complete the project).

Figure

Support your claim, observation, or method with a single figure.

• Format: .svg or .png
• Resolution: Please ensure the figure is high-resolution, at least 300 dpi.
• You can add up to 6 panels to this figure. Please be mindful of avoiding colors (such as red, especially in combination with green or black) that are commonly not visible to people with color blindness. We encourage you to try tools like the Color Blindness Simulator to check the accessibility of the figure. If possible, use shapes instead of/as well as colors to disambiguate objects.
• If you’ve run simulation(s) and feel that a video or gif may be more informative, please feel free to add that instead of a figure.

Figure Legends

Add figure legends for each of the panels within the single figure.

• Please include the figure captions directly beneath the figure in the PDF submission.
• If you’ve uploaded a video instead of a figure, please describe the video.

Code

Please include any relevant code that can be used to reproduce the figure.

• Format: .zip
• Types of Files: Code may be submitted as separate files such as Jupyter notebooks, Jupyter books, or other open-source code formats. Proprietary software formats or languages will not be accepted.
• Instructions: Provide clear instructions on how to run the code and access the data. You can use a text file (.txt), Google Doc, or any other format that is easy to follow. If you use a code repository, such as GitHub, you may include a link to the repository, but all code must be submitted as part of the .zip file.
• Data Instructions: Include detailed instructions within the code or in the provided document on how to access the data used in the research.

Optional – Supplementary material

If necessary, use this section to provide additional information relevant to your research output.

While we expect the micropublication submission to be in English, we encourage scholars to use this section to submit the micropublication in other languages. You can submit this translated material even after the micropublication deadline using this form.

If applicable, please compile all additional text and supplementary figures (including figure captions) in a single PDF file.

You are welcome to submit information in other formats, such as code or video, as long as appropriate descriptions are provided in the supplementary PDF file.

If you are submitting more than 1 file overall, please compress your files together and upload a single .zip file

All teams are to submit a short and engaging summary of their research that can be easily understood by a non-scientific audience. Your summary will be shared on our website and featured on social media, helping more people connect to your work, including future collaborators, students, funders, or potential employers. 

Tips for a great public summary: 

• Use analogies or a metaphor: Help bring abstract ideas to life by using relatable things e.g. a journey, a puzzle, an airport, a recipe.
• Imagine a specific reader: How would you explain your project to a family member? Simplify or explain any technical terms. Ask someone to look at your summary and tell you what they don’t understand so you can simplify it further. 
• Start with the “why”: Explain why people should care, what’s at stake, or where this research could lead to or what could change.

Format:
You are welcome to submit a text summary or choose a more creative format (such as visuals, videos, comics, poems, songs) to communicate your research findings. Whatever format you choose, the key is to make your message clear, engaging, and accessible to someone with no science background.

Need some inspiration? Explore how others communicate science creatively:

• Dance your PhD
• Cartoonists tackling climate change through webcomics
• Rajan lab comics

Text Summaries

• Under 150 words
• Use plain language (no jargon, acronyms, scientific terms)
• Use a free, online readability checker
• Submit as a Word or Google document or PDF

Visuals (comics, infographics, illustrations)

• Use minimal text
• Think visually: what can you show rather than describing?
• Avoid overly detailed charts or technical figures
• Submit as .png or .jpeg files

Videos (explainer, animation, performance)

• Under 2 minutes
• Captions or subtitles are best for accessibility
• Use engaging visuals and avoid lots of text
• Submit as .mp4 

Submission Form

All teams are required to submit a summary for the general public by the 27th April 2026 using this form.

Presentation guidelines

Session format

Each seminar session will feature 3-4 teams of Impact Scholars.

Every team will deliver a 15-minute talk followed by a moderated Q&A.

The last 30 minutes of each session will be dedicated to networking between the scholars and scientists. The presentation part of each session will be open to the public and recorded. Recordings will be made available on the Climatematch Academy Youtube channel, the Neuromatch Academy Youtube channel, and their program website soon after the events.

Specific presentation requirements

• Talks should be 15 minutes long and accompanied by slides (check out “Ten simple rules for effective presentation slides”)
• Groups should mention the data they used in their projects and include a slide about their experience working with the data (what did you find helpful? what did you struggle with?)
• Climatematch groups using CMIP data should add the CMIP logo to their presentations (you can get a high resolution logo here)
• All team members and the mentor should be acknowledged by name in the presentation slide deck. We additionally encourage the groups to include a team photo on the first or the last slide provided that everyone feels comfortable with it.

We leave it up to the scholars to allocate the speaking responsibilities among themselves. While everyone who wishes to present part of the talk should be given a chance to do so, it is allowed for one scholar to speak on behalf of the team.

Resources: how to give a short research talk?

• Tips on making your presentation accessible and increasing its impact by The Turing Way initiative

• “The Art of Selling Science: Presenting an engaging scientific talk” by Caitlin Grzeskowiak, PLOS Early Career Research Community

• “Ten simple rules for effective presentation slides” by Kristen M. Naegle (2021), PLOS Computational Biology