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Nonprofit · EIN 47-4729597

PUBPEER FOUNDATION

Tax-exempt · SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115

Financials

$308K$91K2024$373K$140K2025
Revenue Expenses · by fiscal year end
Financials of PUBPEER FOUNDATION by year, from its e-filed returns
Year endedFormRevenueExpensesNet incomeTotal assetsLiabilitiesNet assets
December 31, 2025990$373,105$140,448$232,657$546,508$0$546,508
December 31, 2024990$308,324$91,184$217,140$317,252$0$317,252
Financial details: 990 for the year ended December 31, 2025

Revenue

Contributions, gifts and grants
$102,128
Program service revenue
$267,660
Investment income
$3,317
Other revenue
$0

Expenses

Grants and similar amounts paid
$0
Compensation of officers, directors and key employees
$45,765
Salaries, compensation and benefits (total)
$45,765
Professional fundraising fees
$0
Legal fees
$32,863
Program services (functional)
$82,754
Management and general (functional)
$52,091
Fundraising (functional)
$5,603

Balance sheet and other

Total assets, start of year
$317,252
Total assets, end of year
$546,508
Total liabilities, end of year
$0
Net assets, end of year
$546,508
Net assets without donor restrictions
$546,508
Gross receipts
$373,105
Employees
0
Volunteers
1
Year formed
2014
State of legal domicile
CA

From the e-filed returns the IRS publishes as XML (latest three processing years; amended returns replace the original). PDF copies at the IRS.

Officers, directors and key employees

As listed on the 990 for the year ended December 31, 2025, highest compensation first.

NameTitleHours / weekCompensation
BRANDON STELLPresident
Trustee or director, Officer
8$45,765
BORIS BARBOURTreasurer
Trustee or director, Officer
1$0
IVAN ORANSKYDirector
Trustee or director, Officer
1$0
990 for the year ended December 31, 2024: 3 people
NameTitleHours / weekCompensation
BRANDON STELLPresident
Trustee or director, Officer
8$42,000
BORIS BARBOURTreasurer
Trustee or director, Officer
1$0
IVAN ORANSKYDirector
Trustee or director, Officer
1$0

Address and contacts

Address (IRS master file)
2443 FILLMORE ST 380-4492, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115-1814
Mailing address (990-N for 2015)
236 W Portal box 223, San Francisco CA 94127
Principal officer (990 for 2025)
BRANDON STELL, 2443 FILLMORE ST 380-4492, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115
Principal officer (990-N for 2015)
Brandon Stell, 236 W Portal box 223, San Francisco CA 94127
Signed the 990
BRANDON STELL, President
Phone
(405) 396-6661
Return prepared by
Nelson & Associates CPAs

Mission

The Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of scientific research by fostering innovative platforms for community engagement and interaction. At the heart of our mission is PubPeer, our flagship initiative, aimed at centralizing and disseminating high-quality, valuable commentary on published research. By facilitating a unique convergence of direct user feedback and expert analyses, we strive to create a comprehensive ecosystem that elevates the standards of scientific discourse and contributes to the advancement of knowledge. Our commitment is to empower the scientific community to share, scrutinize, and build upon research findings, ensuring integrity, transparency, and excellence in the pursuit of scientific truth.

990 for the year ended December 31, 2025

Program accomplishments

  • In FY2025, we advanced our mission by expanding and rebuilding our dashboard service, improving user satisfaction, and increasing adoption by key stakeholders in scientific publishing. We also continued to grow the PubPeer platform, contributed to international policy conversations on academic integrity, and invested in the technical capacity needed to support the platforms future.PubPeer.com continued to grow as a central platform for post-publication peer review, with total comment volume reaching 80,360, up from 70,611 in FY2024 and more than tripling since 2020. We completed a full rewrite of our dashboard alerting service, addressing long-standing feature requests and usability concerns. This upgrade led to renewed subscriptions from publishers who had previously left the service due to limitations in the earlier version. We also signed new contracts with international publishers, an international association of publishers, and academic institutions. In parallel, we participated in high-level policy discussions on the future of academic publishing.Our primary focus in 2025 was the complete overhaul of the dashboard alerting service. The new version offers improved functionality, stability, and scalability, directly responding to feedback from existing and former users. These improvements resulted in both new and returning institutional and publisher subscribers. We also began recruiting full-time developers and invested in modernizing our infrastructure to support long-term growth.
    Expenses $82,754

What it must file and when

IRS records say it files Form 990 or 990-EZ. Based on its last return; a smaller organization may file the 990-N. Its accounting year ends in December, so each return is due on the 15th day of the 5th month after that.

Tax yearYear endedDueIRS public records
2025December 31, 2025May 15, 2026990 on file
2024December 31, 2024May 15, 2025990 on file
2023December 31, 2023May 15, 2024990-EZ on file

IRS record

EIN
47-4729597
Tax-exempt status
501(c)(3): Charitable, religious, educational or scientific organization
Foundation status
Publicly supported organization (170(b)(1)(A)(vi))
Donations deductible (Pub 78)
Public charity, 50% deduction limit
Exempt since
2015
Accounting year ends
December
Files
Form 990 or 990-EZ
Category (NTEE)
Medical research (H03)
Assets (IRS master file)
$546,508
Income (IRS master file)
$373,105

Filing history

FormYear endedRevenueExpensesAssetsReturn
990December 2025–––IRS
990December 2024–––IRS
990-EZDecember 2023$105,327$80,256$99,627IRS
990-EZDecember 2022–––IRS
990-EZDecember 2021–––IRS
990-EZDecember 2020–––IRS
990-EZDecember 2019–––IRS
990-EZDecember 2018–––IRS
990-N for 2015
Officer: Brandon Stell
December 31, 2015≤ $50,000 receipts––e-Postcard

990-N: the IRS publishes only the latest e-Postcard per organization; earlier years appear here as 990.tax collects the monthly files. 990, 990-EZ, 990-PF, 990-T: every e-filed return in the IRS e-file index since 2019; XML for the latest three processing years, amounts from the IRS Statistics of Income extracts before that. PDF copies and determination letters at the IRS.

Questions about PUBPEER FOUNDATION

What is the EIN of PUBPEER FOUNDATION?
The employer identification number (EIN) of PUBPEER FOUNDATION is 47-4729597.
Is PUBPEER FOUNDATION tax-exempt?
Yes. The IRS lists it as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) since 2015.
Are donations to PUBPEER FOUNDATION tax-deductible?
Yes. It is listed in IRS Publication 78 (Public charity, 50% deduction limit).
Which annual return does PUBPEER FOUNDATION file?
Form 990 or 990-EZ. Based on its last return; a smaller organization may file the 990-N.
When is the next return of PUBPEER FOUNDATION due?
The return for tax year 2026 (the year ending December 31, 2026) is due May 17, 2027. Form 8868 extends it by six months; the 990-N cannot be extended.
When did PUBPEER FOUNDATION last file with the IRS?
The latest return in the IRS public files is the 990 for the year ended December 2025.
Who is the principal officer of PUBPEER FOUNDATION?
The 990 for the year ended December 31, 2025 names BRANDON STELL.
Who are the officers and directors of PUBPEER FOUNDATION?
The 990 for the year ended December 31, 2025 lists 3 people; 1 received compensation from the organization, the highest $45,765 (BRANDON STELL, President).
How much revenue does PUBPEER FOUNDATION have?
On its 990 for the year ended December 31, 2025 it reported revenue of $373,105, expenses of $140,448 and total assets of $546,508 at year end.

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