SSRN -- the social science paper repository -- is being acquired by Elsevier. SSRN has always been a for-profit entity and so it shouldn't be a surprise that this has happened. Put simply, there is a commercial rationale to this especially given that it is hard for smaller scale entities -- and SSRN despite its … Continue reading Et tu SSRN?
Last week, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation went far further than any other organization in mandating open access. From January of next year, all research funded by the Foundation will have to be made available and free online -- including appropriate metadata to make the research searchable. While others, such as the Wellcome Trust … Continue reading The Gates Foundation’s open access move ignores a better way to open knowledge
I gave a short talk at the NBER Session celebrating their 20,000 working paper. I called for open access. Peer Review, Publication and the Diffusion of Economic Knowledge - Joshua Gans from NBER on Vimeo.
I am pretty sure that Harvard Business School spends some time teaching its students about Google's "Don't be evil" business statement. While I am also pretty sure that it doesn't take it at face value, I would be very surprised if it challenged not being evil as a worthy goal. If their attempts to introduce … Continue reading Harvard Business School Publishing crosses the ‘evil’ academic line
That is the contention of Richard Price, the founder of Academia.edu. Aaron Swartz was determined to free up access to academic articles. He perceived an injustice in which scientific research lies behind expensive paywalls despite being funded by the taxpayer. The taxpayer ends up paying twice for the same research: once to fund it and a … Continue reading Will reputation metrics open scientific publication?
The other day, Paul Krugman wrote about the reduced relevance of formal academic publication given the nature of web distribution and discourse. It just so happens that today marks the completion of a personal story of mine that illustrates how blog discussion can lead to published academic research. However, it also demonstrates Krugman’s main point — that … Continue reading Blogs and academic research: A timely story
Contribution Economy 