What we publish

Tessera publishes essays about the mind, behavior, relationships, and the self — built on the research that produced our current understanding of how these things work. Each piece is one tile: a careful examination of one finding, one paradigm, or one mechanism. Together the tiles form a mosaic.

The publication's name comes from the Latin word for a small mosaic tile. The picture only comes into focus when enough of the tiles are in place.

Editorial promise

We try to live up to five rules in every article:

  1. We cite real research. Studies are findable. Author + journal + year are named. We do not invent citations.
  2. Case studies are specific. "Sarah Mitchell, a 38-year-old brand strategist in Brooklyn" — not "a recent client." Where identifying details would compromise privacy, we change them and say so.
  3. No listicles. Tessera headlines promise mechanism, history, or revision — never enumeration. "Why X happens" beats "5 ways to fix X."
  4. No medical or diagnostic claims. We are educational, not clinical.
  5. Honest about what's known. If a finding is fragile, we say so. If a popular claim is overstated, we say that too.

About our contributors

Tessera publishes essays under recurring contributor bylines. Some bylines represent composite editorial voices developed in collaboration with our editorial team. Where a byline is composite or pseudonymous, the contributor's profile indicates this. All cited research is real and verifiable; all case-study persons are composite, and identifying details have been changed.

Email addresses on contributor profiles route to our editorial inbox.

How we work

Our editorial process is research-driven. For each piece, we identify a specific finding or paradigm in the literature, examine its evidence base, look at replications and critiques, and write toward the question the reader actually wants answered. We work in the open: every article cites its sources, and you can chase any of them.

Republishing

Most Tessera articles are released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives license. You are welcome to republish them on your site with attribution and a link back to the original. See our republishing policy for details.

Get in touch

Editorial inbox: hello@tesseramag.com

Tips and corrections welcome.