Have you ever wanted to respond to a PubMed article?

PubMed Commons lets you in on the research conversation. It is a system that enables researchers to share opinions and information about scientific publications. If you are listed on even one item indexed in PubMed, you are eligible to become a member of PubMed Commons. You will need a My NCBI account and an invitation to join PubMed Commons. Both are free of charge.

Getting an invitation to PubMed Commons:

Key features of PubMed Commons:

  • Members can comment on any publication indexed by PubMed and invite other eligible authors to join. More details about how to post comments can be found at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedcommons/get-started/
  • Journal Clubs can apply to pubmed.commons@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov for PubMed Commons membership, with an individual PubMed Commons member serving as guarantor to ensure comments posted by the group comply with guidelines.
  • Members making substantive criticisms of a publication are encouraged to let the publication’s authors know there is a comment. An “invite an author to comment” facility is provided at each PubMed entry.
  • Members play a pivotal role in ensuring that PubMed Commons remains a forum for open constructive criticism and discussion of scientific issues, by reporting concerns and rating the helpfulness of comments.

In joining PubMed Commons, members agree to:

  • Establish a single individual account with their real name (no pseudonyms or anonymous accounts are allowed)
  • Follow the current guidelines when they use PubMed Commons
  • Grant other users a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, perpetual license under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License
  • Invite only eligible individuals to join PubMed Commons
  • Disclose potential conflicts of interest
  • Make comments that are directly relevant to the particular work in PubMed on which they are commenting
  • Not use PubMed Commons to spam or systematically promote a product, position or the members’ own publications or to target others

For more information, connect to http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedcommons/