Demystifying The SSRN Process

Lifelong legal learning, mastering content, extending investigations, self-direction, controlling learning.
Determine the extent of information you need
Access the needed information effectively and efficiently
Evaluate information and its sources critically
Incorporate selected information into your knowledge base
Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose
Understand the economic, legal, ethical & social issues surrounding the use of information

Social Science Research Network
Founded in 1994
Michael C. Jensen, Chairman
A leading online research community which houses academic working papers in a number of specialized research networks in each of the social sciences
Free submissions and downloads

Synergies
Literature shows parallel development
Information Literacy in non-law education
Teaching effectiveness in law schools
Future teaching roles for academic librarians
Scholarship collaboration and networks / respositories
Open access movement

Old World of Law reviews
New World of Web 2.0 Communications Channels
Legal repositories
Social publishing sites
Social content / media
Sharing, collaboration, productivity
“ Crowd Sourcing”

Embrace the bigger picture…
Interdisciplinary depositories breed innovation
Applications of your law publications to other disciplines
Wider audience broadens your
readership and impact factor

Paul H. Edelman & Tracey E. George, SIX DEGREES OF CASS SUNSTEIN: Collaboration Networks in Legal Scholarship (Green Bag, Autumn, 2007) Legal academia is undergoing many changes, from the rise of interdisciplinary scholarship to the increase in “post-doctoral” opportunities in major law schools. Many of these changes can be seen as a move to a more academic model of law school and away from the professional school model. Yet one way in which legal academia has distinguished itself from many academic disciplines is in its reluctance to embrace collaboration in the production of knowledge. We think that this is beginning to change and this paper is one of the first attempts to quantify the level of collaboration in law. Unfortunately we are limited by the availability of data to do a full-blown analysis as has been done in other disciplines. Nevertheless, by following in the tradition of the original work on ERD numbers we think we have made a step forward in seeing the direction of collaboration in law.

Traditional measures such as Impact Factor are limited (does not account for unpublished work or give proper credit to OA journals). Scholars are looking for other measures based on connections to manage the growth. SSRN uses a variety of measures (downloads, citations, soon to add Carl Bergstrom’s eigenFactor) so that users can “roll their own” Ranking.

IDEA DRAFT FINAL

>>> 10/11/09 9:40 AM >>> Dear Tom, Thanks very much for the quick reply. The UNH library is pushing for an open access policy that encourages faculty to publish in open access journals, giving reasons if one does publish in a commerical journal. It also wishes to set up a university archive of scholarly productions, presumably similar to the ones at Harvard and others who have instituted such a policy. The library's motivation is primarily economic as part of a nationwide movement to pressure commercial journals to lower their subscription fees. Whether this will work I do not know, Some open access journals demand higher fees for authors. The big, well-endowed universities cover such fees for faculty. A problem might be to make sure that UNH does so despite other pressures on the budget. Best, Val

IDEA example
Pierce Law Web
IP Mall
LSN
Nellco Legal Scholarship Repository
Other?

Open Source, free software that allows Pierce to create their own repositories

https://lawlib.wlu.edu/lexopus/
http://www.docstoc.com
http://www.scribd.com/
http://www.brighttalk.com/
http://www.slideshare.net/
http://www.myplick.com/
http://show.zoho.com/
http://www.slideboom.com
http://ezinearticles.com/
http://www.ehow.com/
http://digg.com/

As SSRN’s use has increased so has its reputation as a source of scholarship. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the U.S. Supreme Court cited a SSRN working paper in its recent Boumediene v. Bush opinion (actually the second time a SSRN working paper was cited this year by the Court) and several law blogs report these to be the first ever citations to working papers in Supreme Court opinions.

Paul H. Edelman & Tracey E. George, SIX DEGREES OF CASS SUNSTEIN: Collaboration Networks in Legal Scholarship (Green Bag, Autumn, 2007) Legal academia is undergoing many changes, from the rise of interdisciplinary scholarship to the increase in “post-doctoral” opportunities in major law schools. Many of these changes can be seen as a move to a more academic model of law school and away from the professional school model. Yet one way in which legal academia has distinguished itself from many academic disciplines is in its reluctance to embrace collaboration in the production of knowledge. We think that this is beginning to change and this paper is one of the first attempts to quantify the level of collaboration in law. Unfortunately we are limited by the availability of data to do a full-blown analysis as has been done in other disciplines. Nevertheless, by following in the tradition of the original work on ERD numbers we think we have made a step forward in seeing the direction of collaboration in law.

I need my laptop. How the heck do you find anything in books?

Research
Traditional and grey materials
Interdisciplinary
Early intelligence
Publishing
Collaboration
Advancement
Public relations

Get & give feedback
Pierce content more accessible
Persistent location to distribute papers
Can have immediate debates on other’s ideas
Allows work to have global influence
Larger cohort are women on SSRN numbers
No measure of quality
Content from peer reviewed to any paper
FAQ: Can I post non-scientific papers on SSRN such as short op-ed, opinion, or expositional papers; the sort of papers that I would generally include in my vita under the section entitled "Other Papers"? Yes
No full text searching
Vanity Game?
Generational Divide

Legal Scholarship Network's Professional Announcements - Last Update 6/19/08 Placing a Professional Announcement
Call for Papers and Participants - Conferences Call for Papers - Competitions Call for Papers - Research Projects Call for Papers - Journals and Books Call for Applicants - Academic Programs Awards, Grants, Fellowships, and Scholarships Available SSRN Announcements

Email abstracting Journals cover over 400 different subject areas
Announcing New LSN Subject Matter Abstracting eJournals View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/Legal-Writing.html Subscribe: http://hq.ssrn.com/jourInvite.cfm?link=Legal-Writing

Have ready:
Abstract
Names, contact information, and affiliations for all co-authors not in the SSRN database
Journal citation (for accepted and forthcoming papers)
Permission from copyright holder, if not yourself
The email and postal addresses, phone and fax numbers, and the affiliation of the contact author
Electronic version of the paper in PDF

Reference tool allows you to click backwards through a paper’s references to find research it was based on
Citation tool allows you to click forward in citations to a paper to find those papers which referenced this paper

Include the URL for your SSRN Author Home Page at the bottom of your email signature and any other place you can think of…cite yourself…
Keep only one copy of each paper on the web and post it on SSRN.
Post your old papers on SSRN.
Caution: Do not try to game the system.

Generally only 1 out of 5 abstract views results in a download
All SSRN downloads start with reader visiting the paper’s abstract page

Many sources to help with scientific abstracts but not many for law
Most list the following components: motivation (why do we care?), problem statement, approach, results, conclusions
Taken for granted and we are expected to know how to write one

Pique readers interest and curiosity
Provide topic info
Provide clear central thesis
Show how it fits with the other research in that area – what is new, useful & non-obvious
Use terms to help it come up in searches
Find abstract you like and use as a model

Avoid last minute abstract
Avoid passive voice
No typos or grammatical errors
Avoid bloviosity
250-400 words

http://library.law.unh.edu	164
http://law.unh.libguides.com	13
http://www.slideshare.net	9
http://library.piercelaw.edu	3
url_unknown	3
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com	2

Demystifying The SSRN Process

by Franklin Pierce IP Center at UNH School of Law on Oct 21, 2009

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Demystifying The SSRN Process — Presentation Transcript