| What is Nexus? |
| Nexus is a next-generation educational platform where leading scientists author textbook chapters based on their own research. These chapters help college students engage with cutting-edge science in a way that's accurate, accessible, and exciting. Scientists retain authorship and receive recognition for their contributions. |
| What does it mean to “contribute a chapter”? |
| Contributing a chapter means writing (or refining a draft we provide) that explains your research to a college-level audience. The chapter should teach fundamental science in the context of modern discovery. We’ll guide you with a proposed structure and can generate a first draft based on your prior work if you prefer to revise rather than write from scratch. |
| How do I “contribute a chapter”? |
| Send us an email! Let us know what you would like your chapter to be about. If you recently published a research article that is relevant, please share this paper with us as well—this can be a great jumping off point to start drafting. |
| Why contribute? What’s in it for me? |
- Impact: Help shape how students learn science and are introduced to your field of interest.
- Recognition: Become the author of a widely read and citable educational chapter.
- Royalties: Receive royalties every time your chapter is purchased.
- Visibility: Gain visibility among students who may be inspired to reach out and conduct research with you in the future!
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| Who reads these chapters? |
| Our primary audience is undergraduate science students. Science instructors at colleges and universities use our platform to create custom textbooks (they choose the chapters relevant to their course), and students subscribe to access content curated by their professor. |
| How do Nexus chapters avoid copyright infringement? |
| All chapters are original works. Even if a chapter describes the experiments and findings of a copyrighted paper, the final product is sufficiently transformative that it is not considered a derivative work. This is because the chapter is written for a different audience, with a didactic tone and the incorporation of fundamental scientific concepts that broaden the scope of the chapter significantly. Additionally, we will only reuse figures that can be freely distributed and reused for commercial purposes. |
| Do I retain authorship of the chapter? |
| Yes. Your name will be associated with the chapter (either as an author or reviewer). You can list it on your CV as an educational publication. However, Nexus will obtain the copyright and exclusive rights to publish your chapter. |
| How does Nexus support me in the writing process? |
- An AI-generated first draft based on your research paper
- Illustration support for scientific figures
- Editorial feedback to help refine your chapter
You're also free to write from scratch if you prefer. |
| What is the time commitment? |
| Revising a draft that was generated using our AI-assisted approach typically takes 1–4 hours. If your schedule is tight, we can be sure to generate a strong first draft for you to revise, and we can even draft figures for your chapter. Taking the time to author a Nexus chapter is a light commitment with a huge impact! |
| Can I include my lab members or co-authors? |
| Yes! We encourage mentorship through authorship. Feel free to include trainees or collaborators as co-authors (up to 3 authors per chapter). This can be a great opportunity for trainees and early career scientists looking to jump start their careers. |
| Can I update the chapter later if new discoveries emerge? |
| Yes, we highly encourage this and support versioning! You can reach out and let us know that you would like to update your chapter at any time. Just let us know. |