Research, open to everyone.
Synapse is an open platform for sharing research papers. Anyone can publish a finding. Everyone can read it, free.
"He who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me." Thomas Jefferson, 1813
"Truth is expensive. It costs experiments, failures, and years of someone's curiosity. But once found, it is the one treasure that can be given to everyone and lost by no one. Jefferson knew it two centuries ago. I built Synapse to pass the light along."
Minsung Founder, Synapse
What we believe
- No gatekeepers. Anyone can publish. Credentials are optional, and pseudonyms are welcome. The work speaks for itself.
- Open access, always. Every paper is free to read and carries an open license: CC-BY, CC-BY-SA, or CC0. No exceptions.
- Authors keep their rights. You own your work. We never charge you, and we never lock it up.
- All results count. Null results, failed replications, and small experiments are first-class research here.
Why Synapse exists
Most research never reaches the web in readable form. Journals charge authors to publish and readers to read. Peer review takes months and filters out work that does not fit: null results, replications, small experiments, and findings from people without an institution behind them.
We think the web already solved publishing. What was missing is a home for research specifically: a place with abstracts, figures, citations, and a community that reads critically, where publishing takes minutes and costs nothing.
How it works
Write
Draft in the browser with support for figures, tables, math, and code. Any structure fits: full papers, lab notes, or a single result.
Publish
Pick your topics and an open license. Your paper goes live instantly with a permanent public link. Edit or unpublish anytime.
Discuss
Readers comment in the open: questions, critique, replications. Feedback happens after publishing, in public, not behind closed doors.
What Synapse is not
Synapse is not peer reviewed. Nothing here has passed editorial review before publishing. Read critically, check the methods, and join the discussion. Open scrutiny after publishing is our quality mechanism, not approval before it.
If you need a venue of record for a grant or a degree, a journal or a preprint server with formal review may serve you better. Many authors use both: publish here first, refine in the open, submit later.