Collins Memorial Library: Usage Statistics &amp; Renewals: Reports and Definitions for COUNTER usage

Report Type and Definitions for COUNTER usage reports

This section concerns the different types of COUNTER (Counting Online Usage of Networked Electronic Resources) usage reports and definitions of what the measurements in the reports are counting.

This is a transition period for COUNTER reports. COUNTER has upgraded its standard to COUNTER 5. Most publishers have transitioned from COUNTER 4 reporting to COUNTER 5 reporting. This is still in flux. The way it is reported is different enough that it is difficult in many cases to use a 1 to 1 match between COUNTER 4 and COUNTER 5. Most publishers have not gone back and created COUNTER 5 reports for previous years. So there is a cut off date between COUNTER 4 and COUNTER 5. On the spreadsheets there can be a mixture of COUNTER 4 and COUNTER 5 reporting.

Important Notes about COUNTER 5:

COUNTER 5 reports do not include titles for items that have not had any usage for the time period that the report covers. For example, say you are getting a TR_J1 report for Jan-Dec 2019 and the journal Pain lists there were 6 uses, the journal would appear on the report. Now say you are getting the report for Jun-Dec 2019 and the journal Pain has had 0 uses during that time period, the journal would not appear on the report.

For further information see:

The COUNTER Project.

The COUNTER reports available for journal usage.

COUNTER Report Name
COUNTER 4	COUNTER 5
JR1: Number of Successful Full Text Article Requests by Month and Journal.	TR_J1: Reports on usage of journal content, excluding Gold Open Access content, as Total_Item_Requests and Unique_Item_Requests. The Unique_Item_Requests provides comparable usage across journal platforms by reducing the inflationary effect that occurs when anHTML full text automatically displays and the user then accesses the PDF version. The Total_Item_Requests shows overall activity.
JR1GOA: Number of Successful Gold Open Access Full Text Article Requests by Month and Journal.	TR: A customizable report detailing activity at the title level (journal, book, etc.) that allows the user to apply filters and select other configuration options.
JR2: Access Denied to Full Text Articles by Month, Journal and Category.	TR_J2: Reports on Access Denied activity for journal content where users were denied access because simultaneous-use licenses were exceeded or their institution did not have a license for the title.
JR5: Number of successful Full Text Article requests by Year-Of-Publication (YOP) and journal.	TR_J4: Breaks down the usage of journal content, excluding Gold Open Access content, by year of publication (YOP), providing counts for the Metric_Types Total_Item_Requests and Unique_Item_Requests.

Definitions:

COUNTER 4:

Access Denied: User is denied access to a content item because the institution does not have access rights under an agreement with the vendor.

Full-text article: The complete text, including all references, figures and tables, of an article, plus links to any supplementary material published with it.

Gold Open Access: Access, immediately upon publication and at no charge to the user (but usually supported financially by the author or the author's funding agency), of peer-reviewed, full-text articles that have been accepted for publication in a journal.

COUNTER 5:

Abstract: A short summary of an article or content item.

Access Denied: User is denied access to a content item because their institution lacks a proper license or because simultaneous user limits specified in the license have been exceeded.

Access_Type: A COUNTER attribute used to report on the nature of access control restrictions, if any, placed on the content item at the time when the content item was accessed.

Federated search: A federated search application that allows users to simultaneously search multiple databases hosted by the same or different vendors with a single query from a single user interface. The end user is not responsible for selecting the database being searched. An example would be EBSCOhost Connection.

Full-text article: The complete text—including all references, figures, and tables—of an article, plus links to any supplementary material published with it.

Investigation: A category of COUNTER metric types that represent a user accessing information related to a content item (i.e. an abstract or detailed descriptive metadata of an article) or a content item itself (i.e. full text of an article).

OA_Delayed: At the time of the transaction, the content item was available as open access because publisher’s embargo period had expired (delayed open access).

OA_Gold: At the time of the transaction, the content item was immediately and permanently available as open access because an APC (article processing charge) has been paid. Content items may be in hybrid publication or fully open access publication.

Open access: Open Access (OA) refers to online research outputs that are free of all restrictions on access (e.g. access tolls) and free of many restrictions on use (e.g. certain copyright and license restrictions). Open access can be applied to all forms of published research output, including peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed academic journal articles, conference papers, theses, book chapters, and monographs.

Other_Free_to_Read: At the time of the transaction, the content item was freely available for reading for reasons such as promotions. This also covers all journals where all articles are free to all users because the journal is funded through advertising.

Publication Date: The date of release by the publisher to customers of a content item.

Regular: Indicates that usage was generated by a human user browsing/searching a website, rather than by text and data mining processes.

Regular search: A search conducted by a user on a host where the user is in control over which databases can be searched.

Request: A category of COUNTER Metric Types that represents a user accessing content (i.e. full text of an article).

Search: A user-driven intellectual query, typically equated to submitting the search form of the online service to the server.

Searches_Regular: A COUNTER Metric Type used to report on searches conducted by a user on a host where the user is in control over which databases can be searched.

Searches_Automated: A COUNTER Metric Type used to report searches conducted through a discovery service or by an automated search agent.

Searches_Federated: A COUNTER Metric Type used to report searches conducted through a federated search service.

Session: A successful request of an online service. A single user connects to the service or database and ends by terminating activity that is either explicit (by leaving the service through exit or logout) or implicit (timeout due to user inactivity).

Total_Items_Investigations: A COUNTER Metric_Type that represents the number of times users accessed the content (i.e. full text) of an item, or information describing that item (i.e. an abstract).

Total_Item_Requests: A COUNTER Metric_Type that represents the number of times users requested the full content (i.e. full text) of an item. Requests may take the form of viewing, downloading, emailing, or printing content, provided such actions can be tracked by the content provider’s server.

Unique_Item_Investigations: A COUNTER Metric Type that represents the number of unique Content Items investigated in a user-session.

Unique_Item_ Requests: A COUNTER Metric Type that represents the number of unique content items requested in a user-session. Examples of items are articles, book chapters, and multimedia files.

Unique_Title_ Investigations: A COUNTER Metric Type that represents the number of unique titles investigated in a user-session. Examples of titles are journals and books.

Unique_Title_Requests: A COUNTER Metric Type that represents the number of unique titles requested in a user session. Examples of titles are journals and books.

YOP: Calendar year in which an article, item, issue, or volume is published.

Example: A student searches a journal for articles on penguins. The students access 3 abstracts from the results and 1 video record. This will be recorded on a Journal Title Report 1 as:

Total Item Investigations: 4

Unique Item Investigations: 4

Total Item Requests: 0

Unique Item Requests: 0

Continuing the example, in addition to accessing the 3 abstracts and 1 video record, the student downloads PDFs for 2 articles. This will be recorded on a Journal Title Report 1 as:

Total Item Investigations: 6

Unique Item Investigations: 4

Total Item Requests: 2

Unique Item Requests: 2

In COUNTER 4 this example would be recorded as 2 uses (the PDF downloads of the 2 articles).

This information came from COUNTER Project.

The COUNTER reports available for ebook usage.

COUNTER Report Name
COUNTER 4	COUNTER 5
BR1: Number of Successful Title Requests by Month and Title.	TR_B1: Reports on full-text activity for books, excluding Gold Open Access content, as Total_Item_Requests and Unique_Title_Requests. The Unique_Title_Requests provides comparable usage across book platforms. The Total_Item_Requests shows overall activity; however, numbers between sites will vary significantly based on how the content is delivered (e.g. delivered as a complete book or by chapter).
BR2: Number of Successful Section Requests by Month and Title.	TR: A customizable report detailing activity at the title level (journal, book, etc.) that allows the user to apply filters and select other configuration options.
BR3: Access Denied to Content Items by Month, Platform and Category.	TR_B2: Reports on Access Denied activity for books where users were denied access because simultaneous-use licenses were exceeded or their institution did not have a license for the book.

* In TR_B1 the Total_Item_Requests shows overall activity; however, numbers between sites will vary significantly based on how the content is delivered (e.g. delivered as a complete book or by chapter).

Definitions:

COUNTER 4:

Book: A nonserial publication of any length available in print (in hard or soft covers or in loose-leaf format) or in electronic format.

Chapter: A subdivision of a book or of some categories of reference work; usually numbered and titled.

Record View: A Successful Request for a database record that has originated from a set of search results, from browsing the database, or from a click on another database record.

COUNTER 5:

Abstract: A short summary of an article or content item.

Access_Type: A COUNTER attribute used to report on the nature of access control restrictions, if any, placed on the content item at the time when the content item was accessed.

Book: A non-serial publication of any length available in print (in hard or soft covers or in loose-leaf format) or in electronic format.

Book Access Denied: Access Denied activity for books, where users were denied access because simultaneous-user licenses were exceeded, or their institution did not have a license for the book.

Book chapter: A subdivision of a book or of some categories of reference work; usually numbered and titled.

Book Request: Book content items retrieved.