PubMed Commons closes its doors to comments

Andy · Feb 2, 2018

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced on 1 February that it will discontinue PubMed Commons, a tool that allows scientists to comment on articles indexed in the agency's popular PubMed database of biomedical literature. The agency said low levels of engagement and the growth of alternate venues for public discussion of published papers contributed to its decision to close PubMed Commons after five years.

Those who want to hold forth on the merits or shortcomings of published papers — or who simply want to add links to related papers or blog posts — have until 15 February to make their mark. After that, they can post comments on an increasing number of individual journal websites. Or they can use PubPeer, a platform that launched around the same time as PubMed Commons but, unlike the NIH tool, allows commenters to remain anonymous (see ‘Little-used commons?’).

“We gave it a fair shot,” says Jerry Sheehan, deputy director of the NIH’s National Library of Medicine (NLM) in Bethesda, Maryland. “It just wasn’t turning into a major point of discussion for the research community.”

Advocates for the platform were quick to express their dismay, however. “It’s a terrible blow to responsible post-publication peer review,” says Jim Coyne, a health psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, who helped beta-test PubMed Commons in 2013.
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https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-01591-4

Alvin · Feb 2, 2018

I'm guessing any comments made will remain visible?

Tom Kindlon · Feb 3, 2018

https://twitter.com/user/status/959577373963440128

https://twitter.com/user/status/959577967503593473

Tom Kindlon · Feb 3, 2018

Alvin said: ↑

I'm guessing any comments made will remain visible?
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The discontinuation plan is as follows:

New comments will be accepted through February 15, 2018.

Comments will continue to be visible on the PubMed and PubMed Commons websites through March 2, 2018.

Users wishing to access the comments after March 2, 2018, will be able to download them from NCBI’s website.

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https://ncbiinsights.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2018/02/01/pubmed-commons-to-be-discontinued/

Esther12 · Feb 3, 2018

That's annoying. I wonder how easy it will be to access comments for particular articles?

I remember Matthees making some that included analysis of the PACE data that I don't think are currently available anywhere else.

Thanks to all the people who have made so many good comments on there, and particularly to Tom for his awesome work.

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PubMed Commons closes its doors to comments

Andy Committee Member

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Tom Kindlon Senior Member (Voting Rights)

Tom Kindlon Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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PubMed Commons closes its doors to comments

Andy Committee Member

Alvin Senior Member (Voting Rights)

Tom Kindlon Senior Member (Voting Rights)

Tom Kindlon Senior Member (Voting Rights)

Esther12 Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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