On paper, they can make a star out of nothing (5)
I believe the answer is:
rotas
'on paper they' is the definition.
The definition suggests a plural noun which matches the answer.
'make a star out of nothing' is the wordplay.
'make' is an anagram indicator.
'out of' is an insertion indicator (some letters on the outside of others).
'nothing' becomes 'O' (looks like zero - 0).
'star' anagrammed gives 'rtas'.
'rtas' going around 'o' is 'ROTAS'.
'can' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rotas that I've seen before include "Rosters" , "they tell us when to work" , "Cycles of duty" , "Duty lists" , "Rolls" .)