I have absolutely no idea what this site is, or why I should care. You're asking me to give you something valuable - my email address; you should give me something of value (information, screenshots, abstract) that makes the trade worth it to me.
Before I get asked to sign up for something, at least give a little bit of value proposition information on the landing page. Use visualwebsiteoptimizer.com to a/b test this and track conversions.
I'll bet you $1 of paypal monopoly money that conversions will increase with the added info.