But itвЂ™s not fine if scholarly infrastructure vanishes, or changes its terms, orВ becomes available only to members, or what have you. if they close it, I can just go down the road and get a kebab or a Chinese. ItвЂ™s fine if Subway run their Cinderford branch for eighteen months and then decide itвЂ™s not working out. If it werenвЂ™t so, then they wouldnвЂ™t be running these services - because their responsibility is to shareholders, not scholars.ДЄnd you can bet that as soon as they day comes that they conclude Mendeley and SSRN are not paying for themselves, those services will go down in flames. But someone will have run the numbers and shown that what they cost to run is less than their value to the corporation in terms of visibility, PR, drawing customers into other Elsevier products, etc. What does it mean for Mendeley and SSNВ to вЂњmake moneyвЂќ? It may be that these branches of the Elsevier empireВ provide very little in the way of direct revenue. Because ElsevierвЂ™s mission is not to further scholarship, itвЂ™s to make money. And, for that matter, just asВ BioMedNet, ChemWeb and ElsevierEngineering were shut down. Once more, not a criticism: just a fact.Д«ut what this means is that the moment they are not making money, they will be shut down, just asВ the Cinderford branch of Subway would be. They exist to make money for their shareholders. Now, from ElsevierвЂ™s perspective, Mendeley and SSRN, and indeed BioRN, are simply branches of Subway. We donвЂ™t even need toВ resent it: we just need to recognise it, and make our choices accordingly. And itвЂ™s not a criticism, itвЂ™s just recognising reality. ThatвЂ™s not a controversial claim, itвЂ™s a simple statement of fact. No harm, no foul, that is just what they are.Д«ut by the same token, Elsevier is a corporation that exists to enrich its shareholders.

Because SubwayвЂ™sВ mission is not to bring dining options to rural England, but to make money. But if it doesnвЂ™t, then theyвЂ™ll close that branch and no-one will be surprised. If the Cinderford branch makes money for them, theyвЂ™ll keep it open and everyone will be happy. ThatвЂ™s fine:В no-one resents it, because itвЂ™s what it is. Now everyone knows and understands that Subway is a corporation that exists to enrich its shareholders. As it happens there is a branch in Cinderford, the nearest town to where I live. Subway is a chain ofВ fast-food outlets that makes sandwiches. But they continue to exist only by the grace of Elsevier. So whatвЂ™s the problem? Mendeley and SSRN are still around, right William Gunn:В Well, you said the same stuff about Mendeley andВ it wasnвЂ™t true then, either, soвЂ¦ Me:В We want preprints to be supported by community-owned initiatives that will not try to take total control. Never ever felt it as anything but useful.

ThisВ tired old argument came up again on Twitter this evening, in light of ElsevierвЂ™s me-too announcement of a preprint archive:Д«rian NosekвЂЏ: Elsevier enters the biology #preprints space: Д«rian LuceyвЂЏ:В IвЂ™ve used SSRN from its inception.

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