Are all papers on SSRN Free?

Are all papers on SSRN Free?

All individual authors can upload their papers to SSRN for free. All papers uploaded by individual authors are available for download free of charge. Most papers on SSRN meet this criteria and are downloadable for free.

SSRN does allow publishers and institutions to charge users for downloading papers they post. To keep these fees as low as possible, SSRN's rule is that the price for charging papers must be equal to or less than the lowest price a user could download the paper anywhere on the web as a non-subscriber. 

To purchase a charging paper...

• Sign in to SSRN.
• Find the paper by typing in the URL or using our search engine.
• Click "Add to Cart" at the top of the abstract page.
• Input your billing information when prompted.
• When the billing information has been accepted, choose the option to either Download the PDF or Email the PDF to yourself. You can also always find a paper you purchased while signed in on the Download History tab of your My Briefcase page.

Visit our FAQ page for more information about obtaining SSRN papers and SSRN's objective. Or write to Support@ssrn.com with any questions or concerns.