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.bj...@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 <ad...@ssrn.com> <ad...@ssrn.com> > Reply-To: supp...@ssrn.com > To: bo-christer.bj...@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> > > _______________________________________________ > GOAL mailing list > GOAL@eprints.org > http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/goal > >
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