SSRN
Elsevier's free preprint repository for social sciences, economics, and law. Like arXiv for the social sciences.
OVERVIEW
What is SSRN?
SSRN (Social Science Research Network) is an open-access repository owned by Elsevier, hosting over 1.4 million papers across the social sciences, economics, business, law, and humanities. Founded in 1994, it allows researchers to share working papers, preprints, and accepted manuscripts before formal journal publication, accelerating scholarly communication. SSRN organizes content into 70+ specialized research networks covering fields from accounting and finance to political science and philosophy. Free to read and submit to, it is widely used by economics, finance, and law scholars for early-stage paper distribution.
KEY FEATURES
What SSRN does well
Free & Open Access
Read and download 1.4M+ working papers and preprints at no cost.
Social Sciences Focus
Strong in economics, finance, law, business, and political science.
70+ Research Networks
Specialized networks for finance, accounting, political science, and more.
Pre-Publication Sharing
Share working papers and preprints before formal journal publication.
Download Metrics
Alternative impact metrics via download counts and abstract views.
eJournal Subscriptions
Subscribe to network-specific eJournals for new paper notifications.
Subjects Covered
Media included
Document and content types you can find in SSRN.
- Journal articles
- Conference papers
- Preprints
- Reports / white papers
- Full text
TOP TOOL COMPARISONS
SSRN Alternatives
| Tool | Coverage | Subjects Covered | Open Access / Pricing | Citation Features | One-line Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SSRN | 1,400,000 | Social Sciences, Arts & Humanities, Business & Economics... | Yes · Free | Download counts, abstract views (alternative metrics) | Elsevier's free preprint repository for social sciences, economics, and law. Like arXiv for the social sciences. |
 arXiv | 2,597,322 | Physical Sciences, Computer Science | Yes · Free | References only (no native cited-by) | The preprint server of choice for physics, math, and CS. Where cutting-edge research appears first. |
 RePEc | 4,600,000 | Business & Economics | Yes · Free | CitEc citation analysis, IDEAS rankings | The free, open economics research database. Like arXiv for economics, with 4.6M+ working papers and articles. |
 Google Scholar | 389,000,000 | Multidisciplinary | Yes · Free | Cited by counts, h-index, i10-index, related articles | Fastest free starting point for any topic. Great for discovery, weak for systematic literature searches. |
 OpenAlex | 250,000,000 | Multidisciplinary | Yes · Free | Citation network with full API access | The open alternative to Scopus and Web of Science. Free, comprehensive, and great for analytics. |
 Semantic Scholar | 200,000,000 | Multidisciplinary | Yes · Free | Influential citations, citation graph, TLDR context | Free AI-powered discovery tool. Excellent for finding influential papers and TLDR summaries. |
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