Working to make online usage statistics more meaningful

Working to make online usage statistics more meaningful Richard Gedye Chair COUNTER UKSG March 2003

Today’s agenda Why was COUNTER formed? n Who are we? n Who is supporting and funding us? n COUNTER Code of Practice n Principles n Features n Compliance and Commitment n Auditing n Future Plans n

Why was COUNTER formed? n Libraries and consortia need online usage statistics n Publishers need online usage statistics n Usage statistics need to be credible n compatible n consistent n

Why libraries need usage statistics - 1 n Collection Development Tool n n n Provide a more accurate match of information resources to patron needs for learning, teaching, and research Provide the right materials, at the right time, in the right format, via an appropriate method of delivery “Usage of this journal on the shelf has declined. Should we drop the journal or just its print version? ”

Why libraries need usage statistics -2 n n n To lobby for increased funding To allocate expenditure more accurately Benchmarking n n Within institutions Within consortia To inform internal marketing and promotion strategy To develop new purchasing models, especially at the consortial level

Why publishers need usage statistics -1 n n To support library efforts to procure funding To demonstrate that reduced usage of print issues has been compensated for by increased online usage To assess the relative importance of the various routes via which information reaches its market To experiment with new pricing models

Why publishers need usage statistics - 2 To provide editorial policy support n To obtain improved market analysis and demographics n To improve site design and navigation n To help plan infrastructure e. g. mirror sites/caches n

Who are we? An organisation with cross community support………

Endorsed by… n n n AAP, Association of American Publishers ALPSP, The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers ARL, Association of Research Libraries ASA, Association of Subscription Agents and Intermediaries EDIt. EUR JISC, Joint Information Systems Committee NCLIS, National Commission on Libraries and Information Science NISO, National Information Standards Organization PA, The Publishers Association STM, International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers UKSG, United Kingdom Serials Group

Founding Sponsors n n n n AAP/PSP AIP ALPSP ARL ASA Atypon Blackwell Publishing BMJ Publishing EBSCO Elsevier Science Ingenta IOPP ICSTI n n n ISI JISC Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins Nature Publishing Group NEJM OCLC Oxford University Press The Publishers Association Pro. Quest Taylor & Francis Group STM UKSG

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

Governance: International Advisory Board Consortia n Diane Costello CAUL, Australia n Lorraine Estelle, JISC, UK n Syun Tutiya, ANUL, Japan n Alicia Wise, JISC/DNER, UK Publishers, Aggregators, et al n n n n Libraries n Frances Boyle, Oxford U. , UK n Andrew Braid, British Library, UK n Denise Davis, Oregon State U. , USA n Ross Mac. Intyre, U. of Manchester, UK n Alison Mc. Nab, U. of Nottingham, UK n James Mouw, University of Chicago, USA n Henning Nielsen, Novo Nordisk, Denmark n Sherrie Schmidt, ARL, USA n Jill Taylor-Roe, U. of Newcastle, UK n n n n n Christine Baldwin, Information Design & Management, UK Michael Butterfield, BMJ Group, UK Jill Cousins, Blackwell Publishing, UK Mary Fugle, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, USA Kristen Garlock, JSTOR, USA Brian Green, BIC/EDIt. EUR, UK Tony Hammond, Harcourt Publishers, UK Pat Harris, NISO, USA Mike Hoover, Pro. Quest, USA Heather Joseph, Bio. One, USA Kornelia Junge, Wiley, USA Barbara Lange, AAP/PSP, USA Judy Luther, Informed Strategies, USA Lex Lefebvre, STM, The Netherlands Liz Mc. Naughton, Divine/ICEDIS, UK Tim Martin, OCLC, USA Kirsty Meddings, Ingenta, UK Robert Molyneux, NCLIS, USA Sally Morris, ALPSP, UK Lynn Norris, Edu. Serv, UK Jill O'Neill, NFAIS, USA Chris Parker, CABI, UK Norman Paskin, DOI, UK John Sack, High. Wire Press, USA Graham Taylor, Publishers' Association, UK Rollo Turner, ASA, UK

Code of Practice, Release 1 January 2003 Basic principles n Main features n

Code of Practice, Release 1: Basic Principles n n n n Start small Start with the basics Compatibility is our goal, not sophistication Be as prescriptive as possible Intended to supplement, not replace, existing more sophisticated or product-related reports Provide support and advice for implementation Auditing

Code of Practice, Release 1: Main Features Definitions of terms used n Specifications for Usage Reports n Data processing guidelines n n Auditing Compliance Maintenance and development of the Code of Practice

Definitions of Terms n n n Page views n Bibliographic data n Page type n Source of page n Authentication of user n 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.

Specifications for Usage Reports 1. Report content and format 2. Report delivery

Specifications for Usage Reports REPORT CONTENT AND FORMAT n Level 1 Reports n n n Journal Report 1: Number 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 Level 2 Reports n n Journal Report 3: Number of successful item requests and turnaways by month, journal & page type Journal Report 4: total searches run, by month & service

Journal Report 1: Successful Full-Text Article Requests by Month and Journal Print ISSN Online ISSN Total for all journals Jan - 01 Feb - Mar - Calendar 01 01 YTD 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 Journal of DD 5355 -5444 0165 -5542 203 251 275 2978 example level 1

Journal Report 2: Turnaways by Month and Journal Print ISSN Online Page Type ISSN Feb - 01 453 Jan - 01 Mar - Calendar 01 YTD 233 318 4765 Total: full-text turnaways for all journals 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 level 1 report

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 level 1 report

Database Report 1: Total Searches and Sessions by Month & Database example

Journal Report 3: Number of Successful Item Requests and Turnaways, by Month, Journal and Page-Type Journal Name Print ISSN Online ISSN Page Type Journal of AA 1212 -3131 3225 -3123 Table of Contents Journal of AA 1212 -3131 3225 -3123 Abstracts Journal of AA 1212 -3131 3225 -3123 Journal of AA 1212 -3131 Journal of AA Jan-01 Feb-01 Mar-01 Calendar YTD 732 806 676 3543 1032 1140 1020 6896 References 543 322 567 4002 3225 -3123 Full-text Postscript Requests 444 365 432 3987 1212 -3131 3225 -3123 Full-text PDF Requests 621 670 598 4657 Journal of AA 1212 -3131 3225 -3123 Full-text HTML Requests 322 420 543 4433 Journal of AA 1212 -3131 3225 -3123 Full-text Total Requests 943 1090 888 5021 Journal of AA 1212 -3131 3225 -3123 Full-text PDF Turnaways 23 40 32 186 Journal of AA 1212 -3131 3225 -3123 Full-text HTML Turnaways 10 21 18 102 ………………. . ……………………. Total: all Journals Table of Contents 66322 70312 81554 400980 Total: all Journals Abstracts 54126 46005 55265 267980 Total: all Journals References 4532 3987 5473 34876 Total: all Journals Full-text Postscript Requests 11345 10947 12534 66007 Total: all Journals Full-text PDF Requests 32112 34554 38221 224623 Total: all Journals Full-text HTML Requests 22500 24000 19500 107841 Total: all Journals Full-text Total Requests 54612 58554 57721 394532 Total: all Journals Full-text PDF Turnaways 3221 4112 2113 8765 Total: all Journals Full-text HTML Turnaways 1123 1321 1511 6453 example level 2 report

Database Report 1: Total Searches and Sessions by Month & Database example level 2 report example

Specifications for Usage Reports REPORT DELIVERY n n n CSV file, Microsoft Excel file, or file that can be easily exported to Microsoft Excel Available on a password-controlled website (accompanied by an e-mail alert when data is updated) Provided at least monthly Updated within two weeks of the end of each reporting period All of last calendar year’s data and this calendar year’s to date must be supplied

Enhancements Under Consideration n Break down usage reports by n n n year of publication type of purchase (subscribed, pay per view) Note: a further survey of librarians may be conducted to learn which reports are preferred Define additional terms, e. g. , “article download” Clarify how to count “full-text requests” (e. g. , individual articles vs. subsets of articles) Development of an XML DTD to facilitate easier automatic harvesting and processing of reports

Data processing guidelines n n Covers only intended usage Code of Practice specifies the criteria to be met by the data used in building the Usage Reports n n 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 httplink should be counted as only one request (30 seconds for PDF) More detailed guidelines are being compiled on data processing and will shortly appear on the COUNTER web site

Compliance n More than one compliance level n n n Licence Agreements n n Standard clause covering COUNTER compliance Declaration of COUNTER compliance n n n Level 1: basic set of journal and database reports Level 2: more detailed reports For 2003 Vendors sign declaration and demonstrate to COUNTER that they can provide at least Level 1 Usage Reports Register of COUNTER-compliant vendors n Maintained on the COUNTER website

Publishers who have stated they intend to comply n n Initial List n n n American Chemical Society American Institute of Physics Blackwell * CABI EBSCO Elsevier Extenza High. Wire Ingenta Institute of Physics ISI * NPG Oxford University Press * * Already compliant

Auditing - from 2004 n n n 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 Audit scope: reports, processes & application of definitions Auditing will be required beginning in 2004 RFP will be issued to qualify auditors Auditing processes are under development A list of COUNTER-approved auditors will be made available

Maintenance and Development of the Code of Practice n Full text of the Code of Practice is freely available on the COUNTER website n html and PDF formats n Code of Practice will be systematically extended n Feedback on Release 1 is actively sought n n Via test sites involving publishers and libraries Via feedback to COUNTER via the website, International Advisory Board, etc.

Future Developments: 2003 and beyond n Objectives for 2003 n n n n Promote and gain acceptance for the Code of Practice Obtain feedback on Release 1 Develop XML DTD for core reports Complete list of approved auditors Define and set up a permanent administrative structure Promote membership of COUNTER Full implementation by vendors for 2004 subscription year Beyond 2003 n n Build membership of COUNTER Extend and deepen Code of Practice n n Cover e-books, etc Journal reporting at article level

For more information………. www. project. Counter. org Peter Shepherd (Project Director) pshepherd@projectcounter. org