Nephrology Journal Club

Hello NephJC community, NephJC is now over a dozen years old. When we started, the idea was pretty simple: get a bunch of nephrologists together on Twitter, pick an important paper, and argue about it in public. Somehow, that turned into something much bigger. NephJC became a place where nephrologists, fellows, residents, students, researchers, and patients could come together to understand the research and manuscripts moving nephrology forward. We built detailed article summaries, visual abstracts, podcasts, book clubs, tweetorials, and an internship designed to train the next generation of medical educators. And through all of it, we have tried to hold onto one basic principle: The education should be free. No subscriptions. No passwords. No paywalls. And no pharmaceutical sponsorship. Every year, big (and small) pharma offers to sponsor NephJC, or advertise at NephJC.com, or place an ad in @FreelyFiltered. It would make running NephJC much easier. We say no. In fact, our bylaws prevent us from accepting pharmaceutical support. Why? Because NephJC exists to critically evaluate the medical literature, including papers studying drugs made by those same companies. We believe accepting any support would at the very least create the perception of a conflict even if our hearts stayed true (which of course they would). That’s the hill we will die on. But independence isn’t free. Web hosting costs money. Podcasting costs money. Software costs money. Visual abstracts cost money. Running the NephJC Editorial Internship costs money. Keeping this entire unique experiment in post-publication peer review alive costs money. Over the years, we have funded NephJC in a lot of different ways. In the beginning, we passed the hat among the NephJC workgroup. Satellite Healthcare (RIP😢) was an early supporter. @ArkanaLabs gave us a generous three-year unrestricted grant. The Flozinator Pin (Flozinator.com) helped carry us through the pandemic. But for the last five years we have a simple model: NephJC is supported by the people who use NephJC. Wikipedia. Public radio. NephJC. You don’t need to donate to read a NephJC summary. You don’t need to donate to download a visual abstract. You don’t need to donate to listen to Freely Filtered or Channel Your Enthusiasm. And we are never going to put those things behind a paywall. But if NephJC has taught you something… If one of our summaries helped you understand a paper… If you’ve borrowed one of our visual abstracts for a lecture… If you’ve listened to the Filtrate argue about a trial while driving to work… If you’ve used NephJC to teach your fellows, residents, or students… Then we’re asking you to help pay for it. Not because you have to. Because that’s how we keep it independent. The alternative is easy. There is plenty of industry money available in nephrology. We choose the harder path because we think independent, critical, open medical education is worth protecting. If you agree, please support the 2026 NephJC Pledge Drive. Open your wallet. Open your purse. Skip one fancy coffee. Or give enough to buy us the whole coffee shop. Whatever makes sense for you. Thousands of people use NephJC. We don’t need every one of them to give a lot. We just need enough of them to give something. Keep the FOAMed flowing. Support NephJC. DONATE HERE: nephjc.com/news/2026/9/8/nep… Joel Topf President, NephJC