COUNTER: towards reliable online usage statistics

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COUNTER towards reliable online usage statistics

• Peter Shepherd
• Project Director
• COUNTER
• 31 July 2003

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Background

• Goal credible, compatible, consistent
  publisher/vendor-generated statistics for the
  global information community
• Libraries and consortia need online usage
  statistics
• To assess the value of different online
  products/services
• To support collection development
• To plan infrastructure
• Publishers need online usage statistics
• To experiment with new pricing models
• To assess the relative importance of the
  different channels by which information reaches
  the market
• To provide editorial support
• To plan infrastructure

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Code of Practice, Release 1Main Features

• Definitions of terms used
• Specifications for Usage Reports
• Data processing guidelines
• Auditing
• Compliance
• Maintenance and development of the Code of
  Practice
• Governance of COUNTER

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Definitions of Terms

• Data elements to be collected
• Page views
• Bibliographic data
• Page type
• Source of page
• Authentication of user
• Access rights
• Session data
• Market elements

 Term  Examples / formats  Definition
3.1.2  Page type    
 3.1.2.1  Item Full text article, TOC, Abstract, Database record A uniquely identifiable piece of published work that may be original or a digest or a review of other published work. PDF, Postscript and HTML formats of the same full text article (for example), will be counted as separate items.
 3.1.2.2  Article   An item of original written work published in a journal or other serial publication. An article is complete in itself, but usually cites other relevant published works in its list of references
 3.1.2.3 TOC (Table of  Contents)   A list of all articles published in a journal issue
Every effort was made to incorporate or reconcile
the definitions with existing ones from other
groups, such as NISO and ICOLC.
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Specifications for Usage Reports

• Usage Reports Level 1
• Journal Report 1 of successful full-text
  article requests by month and journal
• Journal Report 2 Turnaways by month and journal
• Database Report 1 Total searches sessions by
  month database
• Database Report 2 turnaways by month database
• Database Report 3 Total searches sessions by
  month service
• Usage Reports Level 2
• Journal Report 3 of successful item requests
  and turnaways by month, journal page type
• Journal Report 4 total searches run, by month
  service
• Report format CSV file, as a Microsoft Excel file

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Journal Report 1 Successful Full-Text Article
Requests by Month and Journal
   Print ISSN  Online ISSN  Jan - 01  Feb - 01  Mar - 01  Calendar YTD
Total for all journals      6637  8732  7550  45897
Journal of AA  1212-3131  3225-3123  456  521  665  4532
Journal of BB  9821-3361  2312-8751  203  251  275  3465
Journal of CC  2464-2121  0154-1521  0  0  0  0
Journal of DD  5355-5444  0165-5542  203  251  275  2978

Example
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Journal Report 2 Turnaways by Month and Journal
   Print ISSN  Online ISSN  Page Type  Jan - 01  Feb - 01  Mar - 01  Calendar YTD
Total full-text turn-aways for all journals        453  233  318  4765
Journal of AA  1212-3131  3225-3123  Full text Turnaways  23  40  12  342
Journal of BB  9821-3361  2312-8751  Full text Turnaways  18  20  16  287
Example
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Database Report 1 Total Searches and Sessions by
Month Database
     Jan - 01  Feb - 01  Mar - 01  Calendar YTD
Database AA  Searches Run  2322  2520  2742  29878
Database AA  Sessions  1821  1929  2211  27654
Database BB  Searches Run  3466  3210  4459  36543
Database BB  Sessions  1987  2200  2544  24209
Example
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Data processing guidelines

• Covers only intended usage
• Impractical to describe filters for all possible
  ways to generate usage records
• Code of Practice specifies the criteria to be met
  by the data used in building the Usage Reports
• Only successful requests will be counted
• Records generated by the server, together with
  the requested pages, should be ignored
• All users double clicks within 10 seconds on an
  http-link should be counted as only one request
  (30 seconds for PDF)

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Auditing

• A publisher or content provider will be able to
  state that it is Counter Compliant only if this
  can be certified through an independent audit
• Auditing will be required beginning in 2004
• Auditing processes are under development
• A list of COUNTER-approved auditors will be made
  available

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Compliance 1

• Requirement for 2003
• Level 1 basic set of journal and database
  reports
• Must be provided at no extra charge
• Licence Agreements
• Standard clause covering COUNTER compliance
• Declaration of COUNTER compliance
• For 2003
• Vendors sign declaration and demonstrate to
  COUNTER that they can provide at least Level 1
  Usage Reports
• Register of COUNTER-compliant vendors
• Available from May 2003 on the COUNTER website

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Compliance 2

• Vendors already COUNTER compliant
• Blackwell Publishing, Ingenta, ISI, OUP, Portland
  Press
• Vendors who have declared an intention to become
  COUNTER compliant during 2003
• American Institute of Physics, BMJ Publishing,
  CABI International, EBSCO, Elsevier, Extenza,
  HighWire Press, Institute of Physics Publishing,
  Nature Publishing Group, Wiley, Kluwer Academic
  Publishers, Annual Reviews, Atypon

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Maintenance and Development of the Code of
Practice

• Full text of the Code of Practice is freely
  available on the COUNTER website
• html and PDF formats
• Code of Practice will be systematically extended
• An Upgrade Log of proposed changes is maintained
• Release 2 to be announced in Jan 2004,
  implemented Jan 2005
• Feedback on Release 1 is actively sought
• Via test sites involving publishers and libraries
• Via feedback to COUNTER via the website,
  International Advisory Board, etc.

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COUNTER organizational structure

• A not-for-profit company in England
• Any surplus is retained by the project
• If wound up any funds are transferred to the
  organization that takes over COUNTERs mission
• Board structure
• Board of Directors
• Executive Committee
• International Advisory Board
• Specific, task-oriented teams
• Membership
• The members own the company

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Governance Executive Committee

• Consortia
• Arnold Hirshon NELINET USA
• Libraries
• Christine Fyfe University of Leicester UK
• David Goodman Princeton University USA
• Hazel Woodward Cranfield University UK
• Roger Brown Glaxo SmithKline UK
• Tony Kidd University of Glasgow UK
• Phil Davis Cornell University USA
• Publishers, Aggregators, etc.
• Richard Gedye Oxford University Press UK (Chair)
• Marthyn Borghuis Elsevier Science Netherlands
• Timo Hannay Nature Publishing Group UK
• Terry Hulbert Institute of Physics UK
• Eileen Shanbrom American Chemical Society USA
• Oliver Pesch  EBSCO USA
• Peter Shepherd  (Project Director) UK

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GovernanceInternational Advisory Board

• 37 members, representing the following major
  constituencies
• Publishers 9
• Intermediaries 4
• Industry organizations 6
• Libraries 8
• Consortia 4
• Other 4

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COUNTER Membership

• Member Categories and Annual Fees
• Publishers/intermediaries 500
• Library Consortia 335
• Libraries 250
• Industry organization 250
• Library affiliate 100 (non-voting member)
• Benefits of full membership
• Owner of COUNTER with voting rights at annual
  general meeting, etc.
• Regular bulletins on progress
• Opportunity to receive advice on implementation

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Future Developments2003 and beyond

• Objectives for 2003
• Promote and gain acceptance for the Code of
  Practice
• Obtain feedback on Release 1
• Develop Release 2
• Define audit process for 2004
• Define and set up a permanent administrative
  structure
• Promote membership of COUNTER
• Widespread implementation by vendors for 2004
  subscription year
• Beyond 2003
• Build membership of COUNTER
• Extend and deepen Code of Practice
• Cover e-books, etc
• Journal reporting at article level

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COUNTER Founding Sponsors

• AAP/PSP
• AIP
• ALPSP
• ARL
• ASA
• Atypon
• Blackwell Publishing
• BMJ Publishing Group
• EBSCO
• Elsevier Science
• ICSTI
• Ingenta
• IOPP
• ISI

• JSTOR
• Lippincott, Williams Wilkins
• Nature Publishing Group
• New England Journal of Medicine
• OCLC
• Oxford University Press
• The Publishers Association
• ProQuest
• Taylor Francis Group
• STM
• Swets Blackwell
• Thieme Publishing Group
• UKSG

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For more information.

• www.projectCounter.org
• Peter Shepherd (Project Director)
• pshepherd_at_projectCounter.org