The Commons is a nonprofit network that enables scholars, researchers, practitioners, teachers, and students to create a professional profile, discuss common interests, develop new publications, and share their work. The Commons network is open to anyone, regardless of field, language, institutional affiliation, or form of employment. Full-featured accounts are and will remain free for individual users; the network is sustained by the financial contributions of participating organizations.
The Commons was founded as and will remain an academy-owned and governed project, designed to serve the needs of scholars, writers, researchers, and students as they engage in teaching and research projects that benefit the larger community. Unlike other social and academic networks online, the Commons is open access, open source, and nonprofit. It is focused on providing a space to discuss, share, and store cutting-edge research and innovative pedagogy—not on generating profits from users’ intellectual and personal data.