You have a three-minute video abstract, or at least a paper and a slide deck, and someone suggests a short for LinkedIn or YouTube. You open the editor, put the abstract on screen, and realise nobody will read four lines of text on a phone in the moment before they scroll on.
A vertical short is not a cut-down video abstract. It is a different object, with one job: make the right person stop scrolling and follow the link to your paper.
What a Vertical Short Has to Do
A research short video works if a stranger can answer three questions after watching it with the sound off: what did they study, what did they find, and where can I read it. Everything else is optional.
That has three consequences. One idea per shot. Text big enough to read on a phone. And the paper of record named on screen, so the short points back to the work instead of replacing it.
If you have not written the spoken part yet, start with our 60-second script structure. This post is about what goes on screen around it.
Where It Will Play
Before you edit, check the limits of the places you plan to post. At the time of writing (October 2026), these are the published requirements for two common places to post a research short.
| Platform | Length | Shape | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube Shorts | Up to 3 minutes (upload help) | Square or vertical | Shorts can be uploaded at up to 1080p (Shorts help) |
| 3 seconds (desktop) or 2 seconds (mobile app) to 15 minutes (video requirements) | Aspect ratio 1:2.4 to 2.4:1 | Keep key elements, text and logos away from the edges so the interface does not cover them |
Neither limit is the real constraint. Attention is. A 45 to 60 second short leaves room for one finding without padding.
A conference screen is the third place. There, the short may play on a loop with no sound in a hallway or between sessions, so the on-screen text has to carry the whole message.
A Shot List for a 50-Second Short
Say you have a life sciences paper showing that a common soil bacterium slows the growth of a crop fungus in greenhouse trials. The study below is invented for illustration. Here is how 50 seconds might break down.
| Time | On screen | Spoken or caption line |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 4 s | Close-up of a wilting seedling, large text: "This fungus costs farmers whole crops" | "This fungus kills seedlings before they ever grow." |
| 4 to 12 s | Text: "Could a soil bacterium stop it?" | "We asked whether a bacterium already in the soil could hold it back." |
| 12 to 22 s | One simple diagram: two trays, treated and untreated | "We grew seedlings with and without the bacterium in a greenhouse." |
| 22 to 36 s | The finding as large text, one number | "Treated seedlings had far less fungal growth over the trial." |
| 36 to 46 s | Text: "Next: field trials" | "It worked in a greenhouse. The next step is real fields." |
| 46 to 50 s | Paper title, authors, journal, short link | "Read the paper at the link." |
Notice what is absent: the strain name, the statistics, the methods detail. Those live in the paper. The limitation (greenhouse, not field) stays, because it is the honest frame for the finding.
Captions Are Not Optional
On a phone feed or a conference loop, a viewer may never turn the sound on. Captions are what make the short work at all.
Use two layers. First, the key words as large on-screen text, which you design into each shot. Second, a full caption file uploaded to the platform. YouTube's captions help page says subtitles and captions let you reach a larger audience, including deaf or hard-of-hearing viewers and viewers who speak another language. It also lets you upload a caption file, paste a transcript to auto-sync, or type captions manually, and it suggests adding sound labels such as [applause] so viewers know what is happening.
Automatic captions are a start, not a finish. Check every technical term, every gene, species or drug name, and every number. A caption that mishears your key word undoes the clarity you designed into the shot.
Keep It Accurate
Short formats reward strong claims, which is exactly where research videos go wrong. Before posting, run this check against the paper itself:
- Every on-screen sentence matches something the paper says.
- The population or setting is named (students, mice, one hospital, a greenhouse).
- The finding keeps its size. "Less" is fine; "eliminated" needs to be true.
- One honest limitation is visible or spoken.
- No "proves", "cures" or "breakthrough" unless the paper would back it in front of a reviewer.
- The last frame names the paper, the authors and a link to the paper of record.
Then ask a co-author to watch it once, sound off, and tell you what they think it claims. If their answer differs from the paper, fix the video.
Where to Post It and What to Write
Post the short natively on each platform rather than as a link to somewhere else, and write a one-line post above it that names the finding in plain words and links the paper. Our LinkedIn post templates cover the text around it.
On YouTube, add a clear title (YouTube's Shorts help gives a 100-character maximum when uploading from the app) and put the paper link in the description. YouTube's upload tips suggest uploading a test Short to get comfortable with the steps, and YouTube's privacy settings let you keep a video private or unlisted. A private test is a sensible way to check how your captions and text sit on a real phone screen before anyone sees it.
For a conference, ask the organisers in advance what screens they have and whether video plays with sound. Bring the file, not just a link.
Making the Short Without an Editor
If the editing is the part that stops you, Amplify makes a vertical short (9:16, 45 to 60 seconds) from your paper, for LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube Shorts and conference screens. It comes in the same order as a 16:9 video abstract of about 3 minutes, an audio brief and a one-page infographic.
It makes the accuracy check easier. The short is generated from the PDF you upload and nothing else, and it carries the title, the authors and a link back to the paper of record, so the end frame is never forgotten. It arrives as three variants, editable line by line, which is where you tighten on-screen wording or soften a claim that reads stronger than the paper. A person reviews it before release, and nothing publishes until you approve it.
One Short, Many Screens
A good vertical short is small, honest and specific: one question, one finding, one link. Make it once with captions designed in, check it against the paper, and it will work in a feed, on a faculty page and on a screen in a conference hallway.
