Faculty Research Seminar
SSRN
Stepping on the
hamster wheel of
research.
SSRN – What is it?
• “Social Science Research Network”
• US-based
• Originally began as an online research network for
economics and related topics
• Has branched into other social sciences, including law
• Used by a few large Canadian law schools (U of T;
Osgoode Hall)
• Used by many individuals at Canadian law schools
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Uses of SSRN
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Find cutting-edge research
Find pre-publication versions of texts
Post cutting-edge research for timely distribution
Useful link for your web-page
Publicize your publications and build your academic
profile
Measure impact of your research
Networking
Facilitates interdisciplinary research
Publish research paper series
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Research Uses
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Cutting-edge research
Pre-publication versions
Subject-specific eJournals
User-friendly search engine
Institution-specific research paper series
Access to abstracts
Briefcase function
Can follow citations of papers you are interested in
Can access footnotes of papers you are interested in
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Keeping up to date on research
• Subscribe to eJournals
• eJournals edited by reputable and sometimes prominent
scholars
• RSS feeds for particular authors
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Disseminating research
• Database used by many researchers
• Ability to have your articles disseminated through
eJournals
• eJournal editors will approach you to post on SSRN
• See who is citing your paper
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Why use SSRN?
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Large data-base
User-friendly interface for posting articles
Online and telephone assistance
Ongoing improvements to site – new features, etc.
Does not take copyright of what you post
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IP issues
• SSRN does not take copyright to your material.
• Get permission to publish on SSRN
– Do you want to post a published version?
– Do you want to post a pre-publication version?
• Specify terms of use for pre-publication versions.
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Tips
• Updating info: Use the “affiliations” tab, not the
“personal info” tab.
• Increasing traffic:
– Provide link to SSRN profile on your website
– Put a link to your SSRN profile in your e-mail
signature block
– Use SSRN as the link to publications from your
faculty web-page
• Dangers? Ranking, quantification of research, stepping
onto the “hamster wheel” of research.
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