A scholarly home for
the writing journals can't house.
VeloCMS is a permanent, citable blog platform for scientists, PhD students, and university faculty — with real footnote citations, a Code Block you can use for LaTeX source text, and plain-hyperlink DOI and ORCID links. The Memo Garamond theme — a journal-style academic preset — ships free on every plan, so your research writing looks like scholarship, not a generic blog.
Why researchers keep hitting walls
Journal blogs, Medium, Substack, Hugo — each one fails academic writers in a different way. You end up writing less, sharing less, and being cited less than your work deserves.
Journals say no to your blog companion content
Your published paper is 8,000 words of dense prose — and most of the context, the failed approaches, the dataset quirks, the reproducibility notes — lives in a README that nobody reads. Journals won't host a companion post. Your institution's website requires IT tickets. So the most useful writing you do as a researcher just never ships, and the public never sees it.
Medium and Substack don't handle math or citations well
You paste an equation into Medium and get back garbled Unicode. Substack doesn't support math at all — not even a workaround. VeloCMS doesn't render LaTeX either, but it gives you a real Code Block to keep your LaTeX source readable and copy-pasteable, plus real footnote citations linked to a numbered reference list at the end of the post — something neither Medium nor Substack does well.
Personal Hugo/Jekyll = perpetual yak-shave
You set up Hugo three years ago. Now the theme repo is archived, Node.js is three major versions behind, the build broke after a macOS update, and you spent last Saturday debugging a SCSS compilation error instead of writing. Researchers waste 40+ hours per year on Git workflows, broken builds, and theme upgrades. The tooling has become the job, and the writing stopped.
What a citation-friendly platform gives you
Real footnotes, a journal-style theme, and an editor built for long-form writing — not a fictional math renderer bolted on as a promise.
A Code Block to keep LaTeX source readable
VeloCMS does not render LaTeX or KaTeX math — there's no equation renderer in the editor. What it does have is a monospace Code Block, so you can paste your LaTeX source (\frac{\partial u}{\partial t} and the rest) and it stays readable and copy-pasteable for readers who want the raw expression, instead of breaking as garbled text in the middle of a paragraph.
Real footnote citations, not a bolted-on plugin
Insert a numbered footnote reference from the editor's slash menu (/footnote), and VeloCMS links it to a definition at the end of the post — the way a journal formats citations. There's no BibTeX/.bib import; you type each reference by hand, once, in the footnote definition.
DOI and ORCID as plain hyperlinks
There's no DOI auto-linking or CrossRef metadata fetch, and no ORCID account integration. You type doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxx or orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000 as a regular hyperlink in the text, exactly like any other link in the editor.
A permanent, owned home for your writing
Your companion posts, methods writeups, and research notes live on your own domain with a stable URL — not a Medium collection that can vanish behind a paywall, or a third-party newsletter platform's domain authority instead of yours.
Memo Garamond academic theme — included free
The Memo Garamond preset mirrors journal typography: Garamond-style serif body, generous line height, narrow content column, and a muted color palette that makes long-form reading comfortable. It ships on every plan — no upsell required.
What the editor actually gives academic writers
Footnote citations, a code block for LaTeX and code, tables for data, and a journal-style theme — real mechanisms, described honestly, not a citation-automation suite that doesn't exist.
Footnote citations (FootnoteRef / FootnoteDefinition)
The editor's /footnote command inserts a numbered reference mark linked to a footnote definition at the bottom of the post — the standard way to cite sources in long-form writing. Type each citation by hand; there's no BibTeX import or citation-style switcher.
Code Block for LaTeX source and reproducibility snippets
The generic Code Block supports syntax highlighting for dozens of languages and works fine as a plain-text container for LaTeX source, R, Python, Julia, MATLAB, or Stata snippets. It does not render LaTeX to math notation, and there's no Binder/Colab/Code Ocean 'Run this code' button — it's a highlighted text block, not an execution environment.
DOI and ORCID as manual hyperlinks
Type a DOI or ORCID URL as a plain hyperlink anywhere in the post. VeloCMS does not fetch CrossRef metadata, does not auto-link doi.org URLs, and does not connect to your ORCID profile — there is no citation-graph or author-identity schema markup tied to these links.
Tables for datasets and comparison data
The editor's Table block inserts a 3×3 table with a header row that you can resize — useful for small datasets, comparison tables, or a results summary inside a methods writeup.
Memo Garamond academic theme
A journal-style serif theme with a narrow reading column and generous line height, included free on every plan — no separate academic-tier upsell.
No arXiv companion mode
There's no arXiv-abstract importer or auto-generated companion-post layout. Paste your arXiv link as a regular hyperlink and write the companion post the same way you'd write any other post.
VeloCMS vs Medium vs Substack vs Hugo
| Feature | VeloCMS | Medium | Substack | Hugo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Custom domain | Pro — yes | No | Paid add-on | Manual |
| LaTeX / KaTeX math rendering | Not yet — paste a rendered image or embed | No | No | Plugin required |
| BibTeX reference import | Not yet — use footnotes for citations | No | No | Plugin required |
| DOI links | Manual hyperlink (no CrossRef metadata fetch) | No | No | No |
| ORCID account linking | Not yet — link your ORCID profile as a plain hyperlink | No | No | No |
| Cost per year ($) | $86–$108 (Pro) | $0–$50 | $0 + 10% of paid subscriptions | $0+ops time |
From Medium / Substack / Hugo to VeloCMS in five steps
No developer required. The importer handles format detection and draft creation — your equations and citations need a manual pass after import.
Export your old blog
Request a Medium export ZIP (Settings → Security & apps → Download your information) or run hugo export from your Hugo repo. Substack offers a CSV export of posts and subscribers. You don't need anything perfectly formatted — the importer handles messy HTML.
Upload your archive
In Admin → Import, pick the Medium or Substack card matching your export — Medium posts arrive as drafts, Substack posts keep their published or draft status, and no manual format conversion is needed. There's no Hugo Markdown-directory importer yet, so a self-hosted archive goes in post by post, pasted into the TipTap editor.
Re-flow with Memo Garamond
In Admin → Themes, select Memo Garamond. Every post instantly re-flows with journal-style typography — the Garamond serif, generous margins, narrow reading column. Browse through your imported posts to check the layout before activating your custom domain.
Move your equations into a Code Block, your references into footnotes
Medium and Substack don't preserve LaTeX or citation formatting on import, so open each imported post and move equation source text into a Code Block and convert each reference into a /footnote citation by hand. There's no bulk .bib import — it's a per-post, per-citation pass.
Publish your first methods writeup
Open any imported draft or start fresh with a blank post. Keep equations as readable Code Block text and link out to a rendered PDF or image if you need the math to display visually. Hit publish and you're live. Point your CNAME at VeloCMS for the custom domain, or use your velocms.org subdomain to start immediately.
Start a 14-day free trial. Pro when your lab needs unlimited posts and a custom domain.
Pro
$9
per month
- Unlimited posts
- Custom domain + SSL
- Tables for datasets
- AI writing assistant
- AI translation (100/month)
- Newsletter broadcasts
Business
$29
per month
- Unlimited posts
- Multi-author lab blog
- Up to 5 team members
- Priority support
- BYOK Stripe (member revenue)
- Unlimited AI translations
Questions researchers ask before switching
Honest answers — no sales spin.
Does VeloCMS render LaTeX or KaTeX math equations?
No — there's no math renderer in the editor. What you get instead is a monospace Code Block, so your LaTeX source stays readable and copy-pasteable in the post instead of breaking into garbled text. If you need equations to display visually, embed a rendered image or link to a PDF.
Does VeloCMS have a BibTeX reference manager?
No — there's no .bib import and no automatic citation-style switching. What VeloCMS does have is a real footnote system: type /footnote in the editor to insert a numbered reference mark, then write the citation once in the footnote definition. It links back and forth exactly the way a journal formats citations, just entered by hand.
Can I link DOIs to papers I cite?
Yes, as a plain hyperlink — type or paste doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxx like any other link. VeloCMS does not auto-convert DOI URLs, does not fetch CrossRef metadata, and does not build a citation graph from outbound links.
Does VeloCMS connect to my ORCID profile?
No — there's no ORCID account linking or verified-badge schema. You can add your ORCID iD as a plain hyperlink in your author bio or post text, but it won't carry any special markup beyond a normal link.
How is the Memo Garamond theme different from other blog themes?
Memo Garamond is designed specifically for long-form scholarly writing. It uses a Garamond-style serif body with a generous line height, a narrow content column matching journal proportions, and a muted warm-gray palette that reduces eye strain on long reads. It ships free on all plans — no upsell.
Can I import my existing academic blog from Medium, Substack, or Hugo?
Yes — VeloCMS imports Medium ZIP archives and Substack exports through their own cards in Admin → Import, with Medium posts arriving as drafts and Substack posts keeping their published or draft status. There's no Hugo Markdown-directory importer yet, so a self-hosted research blog goes in post by post, pasted into the editor. Neither import preserves LaTeX or citation formatting — plan on a manual pass to move equations into Code Blocks and references into footnotes. For a Medium or Substack archive of 50-100 posts, the automated part takes about 15 minutes; the manual citation cleanup takes longer, scaled to your archive size.
Will my arXiv preprint companion posts show up on Google Scholar?
There's no dedicated arXiv companion-post mode or ScholarlyArticle schema — posts publish with the same Article JSON-LD as any other post. Link to your canonical arXiv page as a regular hyperlink. Google Scholar's crawler indexes selectively regardless of platform; a stable custom domain and clean writing help more than any schema variant would.
Can graduate students or low-budget labs try VeloCMS before paying?
Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial, enough to set up a thesis-in-progress blog or a quick lab-notes page and see how it feels. A card is required to begin, and nothing is charged until day 15. Pro at $9/month gives you unlimited posts, footnote citations, a Code Block for LaTeX and code, the Memo Garamond theme, a custom domain, an AI writing assistant, and newsletter broadcasts. That covers most PhD blogs, lab notes, and methods writeup archives comfortably. Labs with multi-author setups can share a Business account at $29/month.
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Your research deserves a permanent, citable home.
Start your free trial with Memo Garamond. Footnote citations and a Code Block for your equations — on a platform that stays out of your way so you can keep writing.