How can researchers gauge a paper’s impact?

What information is available within the paper stats on my public abstract and author pages?
Paper Statistics are captured on every Abstract Page. Metrics include usage data (article views and downloads) and other article-level metrics (Citations and PlumX Metrics).

What information can be found on the Rankings page?
SSRN compiles rankings of Papers, Authors, and Organizations in our system based on a number of relevant measures, such as downloads and citations.

Who is eligible for the rankings?
To be ranked, an author must have at least one publicly available scholarly full-text paper posted on SSRN.

Why am I missing from an Author ranking?
Rankings are based on affiliations and downloads. Affiliating at the school and/or department level ensures you fall on the appropriate ranking. See How do I add or update my affiliation? for more information.

Is our school and/or organization eligible for a particular organizational ranking?
Schools and organizations must meet specific criteria in order to be included. 

What is a Top Ten List?
We count the number of times a paper has been downloaded and rank them within different categories. These rankings include the Top Ten downloaded papers for All Time and for papers distributed in a SSRN email eJournal in the previous 60 days for each category. Top Ten Lists are available for all SSRN abstract eJournals and for each of its subject networks on the Browse by eJournal List. To view a Top Ten List, expand a network or eJournal and click on the info button to the right of the name. Within the dialog box that opens, select ‘View: Top Downloaded’, and a page will open displaying the ‘Recent Top Papers’ and ‘All-Time Top Papers’.

A paper is eligible for the Top Tens for 2 months (60 days). The day of distribution in any eJournal begins the 60-day countdown of eligibility on all Top 10 rankings. So, if the paper distributes today, the paper will be eligible for Top 10s for all classifications that paper is approved for. Eligibility is tied to the start of distribution and not the posted date of the paper. Once it hits 60 days, the paper falls off all journal Top 10s, even if the paper just appeared on one of the lists.

Authors whose papers achieve a Top Ten rank receive a system-generated message from SSRN. The Top Ten email is directly related to the service/product authors opt in to when sharing their research on SSRN. For every eJournal Top 10 ranking the author receives, they will receive an email. This service provided by SSRN is part of having your top-viewed research on SSRN. Once the paper has been eligible for 60 days, the notifications will cease. An author can opt out of these messages by using the unsubscribe feature within the body of the email message.

SSRN does not store previous Top Ten results.