Which Journals Accept Video Abstracts? A Publisher Guide

Your paper is accepted, or close to it, and someone in the lab suggests a video abstract. Before anyone opens a video editor, there is a duller question: does the journal take one, and in what shape?

The answer sits in author guidelines, and it differs by publisher and often by journal. I opened the guideline pages of the major publishers and wrote down only what each page says, at the time of writing (October 2026).

The Short Answer

Plenty of publishers accept video abstracts, but they rarely agree on the details. Length limits on the pages below run from Sage's less than three minutes to Elsevier's no more than 5 minutes. File size limits run from Sage's 10 MB to OAE Publishing's 1 GB.

Some large publishers do not mention video abstracts on their main guideline pages but accept video as supplementary material. Policy is often set journal by journal, so treat this table as a starting point and confirm on your target journal's own page.

Publisher by Publisher (October 2026)

Publisher	What they accept	Key specs	Source
Elsevier	Video abstracts, subject to peer review; played on ScienceDirect from a thumbnail still you supply	MP4 preferred (H.264+AAC, max target 720p), also MPG, MOV, AVI; recommended frame size 492 x 276; up to 5 minutes; 150 MB recommended upper limit	Media specs, Support
Taylor & Francis	Video abstracts beside the text abstract on Taylor & Francis Online; Medicine & Health journals want a storyboard at submission, others take the video after acceptance	.mov, .mpg or .mp4; 16:9; 24, 25 or 30 fps; 720p minimum; 2 minutes 20 seconds or less is "optimal for social media"; descriptive transcript required	Author Services
IOP Publishing	Video abstracts on 11 listed journals, including New Journal of Physics, Environmental Research Letters and 2D Materials	Up to four minutes; .mov, .mpg or .mp4; 16:9 or 4:3; max 100 MB; .txt transcript required; no music soundtracks, including open source music	Overview, Specs, Editorial
Sage	Video abstracts, peer reviewed before acceptance; embedded under the text abstract in the HTML full text	Under three minutes; below 10 MB; MP3, M4a, MP4 or M4v; at least 640 x 480 and 20 fps; English; closed captions added automatically	Guidelines
BMJ	Video abstracts, invited only after acceptance; publication not guaranteed	Up to 4 minutes; .mp4 preferred, also .mov, .mpg, .avi; H.264 and AAC; 16:9; 25 fps; minimum 720 x 576, HD up to 1920 x 1080	Overview, Tips, Specs
Wiley	Video abstracts, with the option to use a vendor (the page points to Wiley Editing Services); published on the article page on Wiley Online Library	No length or file specs on the page; an older workflow PDF names Research Square as the vendor and 3 to 4 weeks in total	Video abstracts, Workflow
Springer Nature	No video abstract guidance found on the author pages; a separate paid "Video Bytes" service makes a 1-minute video posted to YouTube	Supplementary video formats and size limits are set in each journal's submission guidelines	Video Bytes
MDPI	Video abstracts, announced journal by journal (checked: Journal of Clinical Medicine, Clinics and Practice)	Up to 5 minutes; mp4 recommended, also webm, ogv; up to 200 MB	JCM, Clinics and Practice
OAE Publishing	Video abstracts on the journal website, sent after acceptance (checked: Chemical Synthesis)	About 3 to 5 minutes; .mp4 preferred, also .mov, .avi; 4:3, 16:9 also acceptable; max 1 GB; English; open with title and authors	Guidelines
PLOS	No video abstract on the PLOS ONE supporting information page; video accepted as supporting information, linked from its caption	mov, avi, mpg, mpeg, mp4; 480p H.264 MP4 preferred; preferred limit 10 MB	Supporting information
Frontiers	No video abstract on the author guidelines page; video accepted as supplementary material	AVI, DIVX, FLV, MOV, MP4, MPEG, MPG or WMV	Author guidelines

Two gaps. Cell Press's guideline pages would not open for me while writing; its own Crosstalk blog reported in 2015 that Cell asks the authors of at least one paper per issue to submit a video abstract, so check its current author information. For the American Chemical Society, the ACS Nano author guidelines mention Web-Enhanced Objects but give no video abstract details.

How to Read the Table

Before or After Acceptance

Sage wants the video or a transcript before acceptance, so it can be peer reviewed, while BMJ will not ask until your paper has been accepted. IOP Publishing takes it through the submission system before acceptance, or by email or file sharing after.

Review Is Not a Formality

Elsevier video abstracts are subject to peer review, and both IOP Publishing and BMJ assess videos before deciding whether to publish them. Keep it inside what the paper shows: OAE Publishing says the video must not contain data that are not presented in the accepted manuscript.

One Master, Several Exports

Because limits differ, make one high-quality 16:9 master and export a version per destination. A video of about 3 minutes sits within most of the length limits above, though Sage asks for under three, and below 10 MB, so trim length and file size hardest for Sage.

If you have not made one yet, our step-by-step guide to making a video abstract covers the script, figures, captions and export.

If Your Journal Does Not Accept One

A no from the journal does not mean no video. It means you host it, and you decide where it sits.

• Your lab page, faculty profile and publication list, next to the paper's title and DOI link.
• YouTube, as a 16:9 upload using YouTube's recommended settings, with the title, authors and DOI in the description.
• Social, as a vertical cut: YouTube counts square or vertical videos up to three minutes as Shorts.
• If the journal takes supplementary video, as PLOS ONE and Frontiers do, ask the editor whether a short summary video belongs there.

Whatever you choose, put the title, the authors and a link to the version of record inside the video, so it points home when shared without context.

Where Amplify Fits

Amplify makes a 16:9 video abstract of about 3 minutes from the PDF you upload, along with a 9:16 vertical short, an audio brief and a one-page infographic. For journals that accept a video abstract, the 16:9 video is a starting point, not a guaranteed fit. Check it against your journal's row above (length, file size, music, transcript), and read the publisher's policy on AI-generated content before you send it: Elsevier, for example, does not allow general-purpose generative AI image tools for graphical abstracts. If in doubt, ask the editor first. Each format arrives as three variants you can edit line by line, a person reviews every format before release, and nothing publishes until you approve it.

The widget covers everyone else. One script tag per page and one marker per paper puts the video, the audio brief and the infographic beside the paper on your faculty profile, lab site or publication list, whether or not the journal takes a video. Readers can read, listen and ask questions about the paper without leaving your page, and every artifact links back to the paper of record.

Expect this table to date. Two MDPI journals announced video abstract support as recently as late 2025, and guideline pages get revised. Check your target journal's page the week you submit, and keep your own copy of the video somewhere you control.

See what Amplify makes from one paper