With the dust settling on a new acquisition, we wanted to put out a digital handshake for our new sister company, bepress.

Elsevier announced on Wednesday that they had acquired bepress. From a positive third-party perspective, this proved to us that this whole rapidly sharing research trend is not just a phase for Elsevier, it is something they’re committed to. Good news for those of us who share that commitment.

The news hit our office when someone shouted it out for confirmation as the articles started to circulate around the internet. “Elsevier acquired bepress, everybody!” One of our directors confirmed the fact with a smile. The SSRN Slack channels showed that our remote team members were paying attention, too.

For our more veteran employees, this was something of a shock. As a tiny, private business we knew bepress in the capacity of being an alternate way to share research; two repositories with a common goal and different means of achieving it. Our newer team members saw the immediate chance for collaboration. Of course, if Elsevier could show an interest in us they must certainly be interested in the folks over at bepress.

We’re so excited to see what their future holds and glad we can be on the same side of their success. Also, it’s nice to not be the baby of the research products anymore ;). Welcome to the team, bepress! From all of us at SSRN, we look forward to working alongside you.