[IRTalk] Fwd: [GOAL] SSRN Sellout to Elsevier

Tue May 17 17:39:48 SAST 2016

"I don't know about Arxiv (needless centralization and its concentrated
expenses are always vulnerabe to faux-benign take-overs) but what's sure is
that *the distributed network of Green institutional repositories worldwide
 is not for sale, and that is their strength...*".

*Hilton Gibson*
Stellenbosch University Library
*http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2992-208X
<http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2992-208X>*

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Stevan Harnad <amsciforum at gmail.com>
Date: 17 May 2016 at 17:03
Subject: Re: [GOAL] SSRN Sellout to Elsevier
To: "Global Open Access List (Successor of AmSci)" <goal at eprints.org>

Shame on SSRN.

Of course we know exactly why Elsevier acquired SSRN (and Mendeley):

It's to retain their stranglehold over a domain (peer-reviewed
scholarly/scientific research publishing) in which they are no longer
needed, and in which they would not even have been able to gain as much as
a foothold if it had been born digital, instead of being inherited as a
legacy from an obsolete Gutenberg era.

I don't know about Arxiv (needless centralization and its concentrated
expenses are always vulnerabe to faux-benign take-overs) but what's sure is
that the distributed network of Green institutional repositories worldwide
 is not for sale, and that is their strength...

Stevan Harnad

On Tue, May 17, 2016 at 8:03 AM, Bo-Christer Björk <
bo-Christer.bjork at hanken.fi> wrote:

> This is an interesting news item which should interest the readers of this
> list. Let's hope arXiv is not for sale.
>
> Bo-Christer Björk
>
>
> -------- Forwarded Message --------
> Subject: Message from Mike Jensen, SSRN Chairman
> Date: Tue, 17 May 2016 07:40:29 -0400 (EDT)
> From: Michael C. Jensen <admin at ssrn.com> <admin at ssrn.com>
> Reply-To: support at ssrn.com
> To: bo-christer.bjork at hanken.fi
>
> [image: Web Bug from
> http://hq.ssrn.com/GroupProcesses/TrackEmailOpening.cfm?partid=2338421&corid=4024&runid=15740]
>
> <http://hq.ssrn.com/GroupProcesses/RedirectClick.cfm?partid=2338421&corid=4024&runid=15740&url=http://www.ssrn.com>
> Dear SSRN Authors,
>
> SSRN announced today that it has changed ownership. SSRN is joining
> Mendeley <https://www.mendeley.com/?signout> and Elsevier
> <https://www.elsevier.com> to coordinate our development and delivery of
> new products and services, and we look forward to our new access to data,
> products, and additional resources that this change facilitates. (See Gregg
> Gordon’s Elsevier Connect
> <https://www.elsevier.com/connect/ssrn-the-leading-social-science-and-humanities-repository-and-online-community-joins-elsevier>
> post)
>
> Like SSRN, Mendeley and Elsevier are focused on creating tools that
> enhance researcher workflow and productivity. SSRN has been at the
> forefront of on-line sharing of working papers. We are committed to
> continue our innovation and this change will enable that to happen more
> quickly. SSRN will benefit from access to the vast new data and resources
> available, including Mendeley’s reference management and personal library
> management tools, their new researcher profile capabilities, and social
> networking features. Importantly, we will also have new access for SSRN
> members to authoritative performance measurement tools such as those
> powered by Scopus <https://www.elsevier.com/solutions/scopus> and Newsflo
> <http://hq.ssrn.com/GroupProcesses/RedirectClick.cfm?partid=2338421&corid=4024&runid=15740&url=http://www.newsflo.net>
> (a global media tracking tool). In addition, SSRN, Mendeley and Elsevier
> together can cooperatively build bridges to close the divide between the
> previously separate worlds and workflows of working papers and published
> papers.
>
> We realize that this change may create some concerns about the intentions
> of a legacy publisher acquiring an open-access working paper repository. I
> shared this concern. But after much discussion about this matter and others
> in determining if Mendeley and Elsevier would be a good home for SSRN, I am
> convinced that they would be good stewards of our mission. And our
> copyright policies are not in conflict -- our policy has always been to
> host only papers that do not infringe on copyrights. I expect we will have
> some conflicts as we align our interests, but I believe those will be
> surmountable.
>
> Until recently I was convinced that the SSRN community was best served
> being a stand-alone entity. But in evaluating our future in the evolving
> landscape, I came to believe that SSRN would benefit from being more
> interconnected and with the resources available from a larger organization.
> For example, there is scale in systems administration and security, and
> SSRN can provide more value to users with access to more data and resources.
>
> On a personal note, it has been an honor to be involved over the past 25
> years in the founding and growth of the SSRN website and the incredible
> community of authors, researchers and institutions that has made this all
> possible. I consider it one of my great accomplishments in life. The
> community would not have been successful without the commitment of so many
> of you who have contributed in so many ways. I am proud of the community we
> have created, and I invite you to continue your involvement and support in
> this effort.
>
> The staff at SSRN are all staying (including Gregg Gordon, CEO and
> myself), the Rochester office is still in place, it will still be free to
> upload and download papers, and we remain committed to “Tomorrow’s Research
> Today”. I look forward to and am committed to a successful transition and
> to another great 25 years for the SSRN community that rivals the first.
>
> Michael C. Jensen
> Founder & Chairman, SSRN
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Search the SSRN eLibrary
> <http://hq.ssrn.com/GroupProcesses/RedirectClick.cfm?partid=2338421&corid=4024&runid=15740&url=http://papers.ssrn.com/>
> | Browse SSRN
> <http://hq.ssrn.com/GroupProcesses/RedirectClick.cfm?partid=2338421&corid=4024&runid=15740&url=http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/DisplayJournalBrowse.cfm>
> | Top Papers
> <http://hq.ssrn.com/GroupProcesses/RedirectClick.cfm?partid=2338421&corid=4024&runid=15740&url=http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/topten/topTenPapers.cfm>
>
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