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This is an archived version of the Code of Practice, for reference only. The current Code of Practice is Release 5.0.2.
 
 
 

The COUNTER Code of Practice for Release 5

COUNTER’s library, vendor and content provider members have contributed to the development the Code of Practice.

The Code of Practice enables publishers and vendors to produce consistent and credible usage data. This allows libraries to compare data received from different vendors and publishers, and to understand and demonstrate the value of the electronic resources to which they subscribe.

 

 
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Code of Practice
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Glossary

Appendix A: Glossary of Terms

Download Appendix A

Term Definition Examples/formats Definition
A&I database

A&I_Database

A non-full-text database that typically contains article metadata, abstracts, and subject classifications. Used by researchers to locate publications relevant to their research. PubMed, PsycInfo
A&I service A vendor or website that provides A&I databases. American Psychological Association (APA)
Abstract A short summary of an article or content item.

A detailed view of article metadata that includes the summary but not the full text. Accessing the abstract/detailed view falls into the usage category of Investigations.

Abstract and Index Database Host See A&I service. APA, EBSCOhost, ProQuest
Accepted manuscript The version of a journal article that has been accepted for publication in a journal. This version includes any pre-publication revisions, but it does not include any formatting or copyediting changes or corrections.
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 Denied: Limit_Exceeded User is denied access to a content item because the simultaneous user limit for their institution’s license would be exceeded.
Access Denied: No_License User is denied access to a content item because the user or the user’s institution does not have access rights under an agreement with the content provider.
Access_Method A COUNTER attribute indicating whether the usage related to investigations and requests was generated by a human user browsing and searching a website (Regular) or by Text and Data Mining processes (TDM). Regular, TDM
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. Controlled, OA_Gold_APC, OA_Gold_Non_APC, OA_Delayed, Other_Free_to_Read
Aggregated_Full_Content A COUNTER Host_Type for content providers who license full-text articles and possibly non-textual content (beyond bibliographic information).
Aggregated full content database A database that contains full-text articles and possibly non-textual content (beyond bibliographic information) and that is sold as a self-contained/pre-set grouping of data. Academic Search Complete
Aggregated full content database host A content host that provides access to aggregated full content databases. EBSCOhost, ProQuest
Aggregator A type of content provider that hosts content from multiple publishers, delivers content direct to customers, and is paid for this service by customers. EBSCOhost, Gale, Lexis Nexis,

ProQuest

ALPSP The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers is an international trade association of non-profit publishers.
APC See Article processing charge.
API Application Programming Interface.
Article An item of original written work published in a journal, other serial publication, or in a book. An article is complete, but usually cites other relevant published works in its list of references, if it has one.

A COUNTER Data_Type.

Article header See Metadata.
Article processing charges An article processing charge (APC), also known as a publication fee, is a fee which is sometimes charged to authors to make a work available open access in either an open access journal or hybrid journal. …They are the most common funding method for professionally published open access articles. [Wikipedia]
Article_Version Defined by ALPSP and NISO as a classification of the version of an Article as it goes through its publication life-cycle.

 

An element on a COUNTER Expanded Item report that identifies the version of the Article being accessed.

 

Typically COUNTER usage reporting only reflects usage of the following article versions (of the 7 versions defined by the ALPSP/NISO JAV Technical Working Group):

·      Accepted Manuscript (AM)

·      Version of Record (VoR)

·      Corrected Version of Record (CVoR)

·      Enhanced Version of Record (EVoR).

AM, VoR, CVoR, EVoR
Articles in press Full-text articles that have been accepted for publication in a journal and have been made available online to customers and that will be assigned a publication date of the current year or a future year.
Attribute Used to specify a Report Filter when customizing a Master Report.
Author(s) The person/people who wrote/created the items whose usage is being reported.
Automated search A search from a discovery layer or similar technology where multiple Databases are searched simultaneously with a single query from the user interface. The end user is not responsible for selecting which Databases are being searched. Usage of this nature is reported as Searches_Automated.

 

A Search run repeatedly (i.e. daily or weekly) by a script or automated process. Usage of this nature must not be included in COUNTER reports.

Automated search agent A script or automated process that runs a search repeatedly, usually at pre-set intervals such as daily or weekly.
Backfile See Archive. Oxford Journals Archive
Begin_Date The first date in the range for the usage represented in a COUNTER report.
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.

 

A COUNTER Data Type.

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.
Book Section See Section_Type.
Book Segment See Section_Type.
Bulk download A single event where multiple content items are downloaded to the user’s computer.
Cache Automated system that collects items from remote servers to serve closer and more efficiently to a given population of users. Often populated by robots or modern browsers.

 

Note: Publishers take steps to prevent local caching of their content, i.e. including appropriate headers on their site to restrict caching.

Central Index Also known as a Discovery Index. A collection of locally-hosted, consistently indexed metadata and content harvested from multiple external metadata and content sources, frequently including a library’s catalog and repository metadata, and usually representing a significant portion of the library’s collection.

 

Certified Public Accountant (CPA) An accounting designation granted to accounting professionals in the United States.
Chapter A subdivision of a book or of some categories of reference work, usually numbered and titled.

 

A COUNTER Section_Type.

Chartered Accountant (CA) An international accounting designation granted to accounting professionals in many countries around the world, aside from the United States.
Citation A reference to a published or unpublished source.
Collection A subset of the content of a service. A collection is a branded group of online information products from one or more vendors that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete group.

 

For the COUNTER reporting is restricted to pre-set collections that are defined like databases. See Database.

 

Note: A package or bundle provided by a publisher is not considered a database or a collection.

Component A uniquely identifiable constituent part of a content item composed of more than one file (digital object). See Section 3.
Consortium A group of institutions joining together to license content. Ohiolink
Consortium member An institution that has obtained access to online information resources as part of a consortium.

 

A consortium member is defined by a subset of the consortium’s range of IP addresses or by other specific authentication details.

Ohio State University
Content host A website that provides access to content typically accessed by patrons of libraries and other research institutions.
Content item A generic term describing a unit of content accessed by a user of a content host. Typical content items include articles, books, chapters, multimedia, etc.
Content provider An organization whose function is to commission, create, collect, validate, host, distribute, and trade information in electronic form. Any publisher, the Metropolitan Museum, Magnum, JSTOR
Controlled An access type. At the time of the transaction, the content item was not open (i.e. was behind a paywall) because access is restricted to authorized users. Access of content due to a trial subscription would be considered Controlled not Other_Free_to_Read.
Copyright holder A person or a company who owns any one of the Exclusive Rights of copyright in a work.
Corrected Version of Record A version of the Version of Record of a journal article in which errors in the VoR have been corrected. The errors could be author errors, publisher errors, or other processing errors.
COUNTER compliance pending Status of a vendor who is currently not compliant but whose audit is in progress or scheduled.
COUNTER Report Validation Tool An online tool to validate COUNTER reports in JSON and tabular format.
COUNTER_SUSHI API A RESTful implementation of SUSHI automation intended to return COUNTER Release 5 reports and snippets of COUNTER usage in JSON format.
Crawler See Internet robot, crawler, spider.
Created COUNTER Element Name. The date and time the usage was prepared, in RFC3339 date-time format (yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ssZ).
Created by COUNTER Element Name. The name of the organization or system that created the COUNTER report.
Crossref A not-for-profit membership organization for publishers.
Customer An individual or organization that can access a specified range of the Content provider’s services and/or content and is subject to terms and conditions agreed with the Content provider.
Customer_ID The field in the COUNTER reports that indicates whose usage is being reported. May be a proprietary or standard value such as ISNI. ISNI=000000012150090X
Data harvesting Automated processes used for extracting data from websites.
Data_Repository An online database service; an archive that manages the long-term storage and preservation of digital resources and provides a catalogue for discovery and access.

 

A COUNTER host type.

Figshare
Data Types, Data_Type The field identifying type of content. COUNTER recognizes the following Data_Types:

·      Article

·      Book

·      Book Segment

·      Database

·      Dataset

·      Journal

·      Multimedia

·      Newspaper_Or_Newsletter

·      Other

·      Platform

·      Report

·      Repository Item

·      Thesis_Or_Dissertation

Database A collection of electronically stored data or unit records (facts, bibliographic data, texts) with a common user interface and software for the retrieval and manipulation of data. (NISO)

 

A COUNTER Data_Type used when reporting search activity at the database level.

Social Science Abstracts, Reaxys
Dataset See Data_Type.
Database Master Report A report that contains additional filters and breakdowns beyond those included in the standard COUNTER reports and are aggregated to the database level.
Delayed open access At the time of the transaction, the content item published in a subscription journal is free to read after an embargo period. See OA_Delayed.
Digital Object Identifier See DOI.
Discovery Layer A web-accessible interface for searching, browsing, filtering, and otherwise interacting with indexed metadata and content. The searches produce a single, relevancy-ranked results set, usually displayed as a list with links to full content, when available. Typically, discovery layers are customizable by subscribing libraries and may be personalized by individual users.

 

Discovery service

 

Discovery_Service

A pre-harvested central index coupled with fully featured discovery layer. EDS, Primo, Summon
Discovery services provider An organization that hosts a discovery service. EBSCOhost (EDS), ProQuest (Primo/Summon)
Distributed Usage Logging (DUL) A peer-to-peer channel for the secure exchange and processing of COUNTER-compliant private usage records from hosting platforms to publishers.
DNS lookups Domain Name System lookups.
DOI (digital object identifier) The digital object identifier is a means of identifying a piece of intellectual property (a creation) on a digital network, irrespective of its current location. (www.doi.org)

 

DOIs may be assigned at the title, article/chapter, or component level.

Double-click A repeated click on the same link by the same user within a period of 30 seconds.

 

COUNTER requires that double-clicks must be counted as a single click.

Double-click filtering A process to remove the potential of over-counting which could occur when a user clicks the same link multiple times. Double-click filtering applies to all metric types.
DR Database Master Report.
DR_D1 Database Search and Item Usage. A pre-set Standard View of DR showing total item investigations and requests, as well as searches.
DR_D2 Database Access Denied. A pre-set Standard View of DR showing where users were denied access because simultaneous use (concurrency) licenses were exceeded, or their institution did not have a license for the database.
DUL See Distributed Usage Logging (DUL).
eBook host A content host that provides access to eBook and reference work content. EBL, EBSCOhost, ScienceDirect
eBook, E-Book Monographic content that is published online.
EC Executive Committee.
eJournal Serial content that is published online.
eJournal host A content host that provides access to online serial publications (journals, conferences, newspapers, etc.) ScienceDirect
Element A piece of information to be reported on, displayed as a column heading (and/or in the Report Header) in a COUNTER report. Listed for each Master Report in section 4.
Embargo period The period of time before an article is moved out from behind the paywall, i.e. from Controlled to OA_Delayed.
End_Date The last date in the range for the usage represented in a COUNTER report.

 

Enhanced Version of Record A version of the Version of Record of a journal article that has been updated or enhanced by the provision of supplementary material. For example, multimedia objects such as audio clips and applets; additional XML-tagged sections, tables, or figures or raw data.
e-Resources Electronic resources.
Error_No A unique numeric code included as part of a COUNTER SUSHI exception that identifies the type of error that applies to a report.
Exception An optional element that may be included within a COUNTER report indicating some difference between the usage that was requested and the usage that is being presented in the report. An exception includes the following elements:

 

·      Error_No

·      Exception_Description

·      and the data itself.

3040: Partial Data Returned (request was for 2016-01-01 to 2016-12-31, but usage is only available to 2016-08-30).
Exclude_Monthly_Details Reporting_Period_Total column without month-by-month breakdowns.
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. See Appendix G. MetaLib, EBSCOhost Connection
Filter See Report filter.
Format A COUNTER Element Name used to identify the format of the content. Reserved values include: HTML, PDF, Other.
Full-text database A database that consists of full-text articles or other non-textual content beyond bibliographic information and that is sold as a self-contained/pre-set grouping of data.
Full-text article The complete text—including all references, figures, and tables—of an article, plus links to any supplementary material published with it.
GDPR General Data Protection Regulation.
GET/status COUNTER_SUSHI API path. Returns the current status of the COUNTER_SUSHI API service.
GET/reports COUNTER_SUSHI API path. Returns a list of reports supported by the COUNTER_SUSHI API service.
GET/members COUNTER_SUSHI API path.  Returns the list of consortium members or sites for multi-site customers.
Gold Open Access See OA_Gold.
Host See Content host. Ingenta, Semantico, SpringerLink
Host Site See Content host.
Host types A categorization of Content Hosts used by COUNTER to facilitate implementation of the Code of Practice. The Code of Practice identifies the Host types that apply to the various artefacts in the Code of Practice, allowing a Content Host to quickly identify the areas of the Code of Practice to implement by identifying the Host Types categories that apply to them. ·

  • E-Journal
  • eBook
  • Multimedia
  • Aggregated Full Content
  • A&I Database
  • Discovery Service
  • Repository
  • Data Repository
  • Scholarly Collaboration Network
Host UI, host-site UI User interface that an end-user would use to access content on the Content host.
HTTP HyperText Transfer Protocol.
Hybrid publication A publication that is available via a subscription license but also contains articles available as Gold Open Access.
Institution The organization for which usage is being reported.
Institution_ID A unique identifier for an institution. In COUNTER reports the Institution_ID is presented as a combination of the identifier type and its value. Proprietary identifiers that identify the content platform can be used. isni=000000012150090X

 

ebscohost=s12345

Institution_Name The field in the COUNTER reports that indicates the name of the institution.
Institutional identifier See Institution_ID.
Intermediary See Content provider.
Internet robot, crawler, spider Any automated program or script that visits websites and systematically retrieves information from them, often to provide indexes for search engines. See Appendix I.
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).
IP Internet Protocol.
IP address Internet protocol (IP) address of the computer on which the session is conducted. May be used by content providers as a means of authentication and authorization and for identifying the institution a user is affiliated with.

 

The identifying network address (typically four 8-bit numbers: aaa.bbb.cc.dd) of the user’s computer or proxy.

IR Item Master Report.
IR_A1 Journal Article Requests. A pre-set Standard View of IR showing total item requests for journal articles.
IR_M1 Multimedia Item Requests. A pre-set Standard View of IR showing total item requests for multimedia items.
ISBN (International Standard Book Number) A unique 13-digit number used to identify a book.
ISIL International Standard Identifier for Libraries and Related Organizations – https://english.slks.dk/work-areas/libraries/library-standards/isil/
ISNI (International Standard Name Identifier) A unique number used to identify authors, contributors, and distributors of creative works, including researchers, inventors, writers, artists, visual creators, performers, producers, publishers, aggregators, etc.

COUNTER defines ISNI as an optional identifier for an institution.

ISO International Organization for Standardization.
ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) A unique 8-digit number used to identify a print or electronic periodical publication. A periodical published in both print and electronic form may have two ISSNs, a print ISSN and an electronic ISSN.
Issue A collection of journal articles that share a specific issue number and are presented as an identifiable unit online and/or as a physically bound and covered set of numbered pages in print.
Issue date The date of release by the publisher to customers of a journal issue.

 

When used for COUNTER YOP (year of publication) reporting, the issue date of the print should be used when print and online issue dates differ.

Item Collective term for content that is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. a full-text article (original or a review of other published work), an abstract or digest of a full-text article, a sectional HTML page, supplementary material associated with a full-text article (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources such as an image, a video, audio, a dataset, a piece of code, or a chemical structure or reaction. Full text article, TOC, Abstract, Database record, Dataset, Thesis
Item Master Report A COUNTER report that provides usage data at the item or item-component level.
Item Reports A series of COUNTER reports that provide usage data at the item or item-component level.
Javascript Object Notation See JSON.
Journal A serial that is a branded and continually growing collection of original articles within a particular discipline.

 

A COUNTER data type.

Tetrahedron Letters
Journal DOI See DOI.
Journal Reports See Title Reports.
Journal Requests Journal content items retrieved.
JQuery A JavaScript library.
License A contract or agreement that provides an organization or individual (licensee) with the right to access certain content.
Limit_Exceeded A COUNTER Metric_Type. User is denied access to a content item because the simultaneous user limit for their institution’s license would be exceeded.
Linking_ISSN International Standard Serial Number that links together the ISSNs assigned to all instances of a serial publication in the format nnnn-nnn[nX] (JSON reports only).
Log file analysis A method of collecting usage data in which the web server records all of its transactions.
Master Reports Reports that contain additional filters and breakdowns beyond those included in the standard COUNTER reports.
Metadata A series of textual elements that describes a content item but does not include the item itself. For example, metadata for a journal article would typically include publisher, journal title, volume, issue, page numbers, copyright information, a list of names and affiliations of the authors, author organization addresses, the article title and an abstract of the article, and keywords or other subject classifications.
Metadata provider An organization, such as a publisher, that provides descriptive article/item-level metadata to an online search service.
Metric Types, Metric_Types An attribute of COUNTER usage that identifies the nature of the usage activity. See Sections 4.1.3; 4.2.3; 4.3.3; 4.4.3. Total_Requests

Searches_Regular

Limit_Exceeded

 

Unique_Title_Requests

Monograph Text See Book.
Multimedia Non-textual media such as images, audio, and video.
Multimedia collection

 

Multmedia_Collection

A grouping of multimedia items that are hosted and searched as a single unit and behave like a database.

 

A COUNTER host type.

 

See also Database.

Multimedia host A content host that provides access to multimedia content.
Multimedia item An item of non-textual media content such as an image or streaming or downloadable audio or video files. (Does not include thumbnails or descriptive text/metadata.)
NISO The National Information Standards Organization is a United States non-profit standards organization that develops, maintains and publishes technical standards related to publishing, bibliographic and library applications. [Wikipedia]
Namespace A term primarily used in programming languages where the same name may be used for different objects. It is created to group together those names that might be repeated elsewhere within the same or interlinked programs, objects and elements.

For example, an XML namespace consists of element types and attribute names. Each of the names within that namespace is only related/linked to that namespace. The name is uniquely identified by the namespace identifier ahead of the name. For example, Namespace1_ John and Namespace2_John are same names but within different namespaces.

 

Newspaper or Newsletter Textual content published serially in a newspaper or newsletter.
No_License A COUNTER Metric_Type. User is denied access to a content item because the user or the user’s institution does not have access rights under an agreement with the vendor.
OA See Open access.
OA_Delayed A COUNTER Access_Type.

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 A COUNTER Access_Type. 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.

 

Note that content items offered as delayed open access (open after an embargo period) would be classified as OA_Delayed.

OCLC OCLC (Online Computer Library Center). An American non-profit cooperative organization “dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs”. It was founded in 1967 as the Ohio College Library Center. [Wikipedia]
Online_ISSN A COUNTER identifier for the ISSN assigned to the online manifestation of a serial work.

 

See also ISSN.

1533-4406
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. [Wikipedia]
ORCID An international standard identifier for individuals (i.e. authors) to use with their name as they engage in research, scholarship, and innovation activities.

 

A COUNTER identifier for item contributors.

 

See .http://orcid.org.

Other A content item or section that cannot be classified by any of the other data types.
Other_Free_to_Read A COUNTER Access_Type. 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.
Page tag Page-tagging is a method of collecting usage data that uses, for example, JavaScript on each page to notify a third-party server when a page is rendered by a web-browser.
Parent In COUNTER Item Reports the parent is the publication an item is part of. For a journal article, the parent is the journal, and for a book chapter it is the book.
Paywall A term used to describe the fact that a user attempting to access a content item must be authorized by license or must pay a fee before the content can be accessed.
PDF Portable Document Format, file formatted for the Adobe Acrobat reader. Items such as full-text articles or journals published in PDF format tend to replicate the printed page in appearance.
PHP Hypertext Preprocessor is a server-side scripting language designed for web development. The PHP reference implementation is now produced by The PHP Group. [Wikipedia]
Platform An interface from an aggregator, publisher, or other online service that delivers the content to the user and that counts and provides the COUNTER usage reports. Wiley Online Library, HighWire
Platform Master Report A Report that contains additional filters and breakdowns beyond those included in the standard COUNTER reports, and which are aggregated to the platform level.
Platform Reports A series of COUNTER reports that provide usage aggregated to the platform level.
Platform search Search conducted by users of a Platform.
Platform usage Activity across all metrics for entire platforms.
PR Platform Master Report.
PR_P1 Platform Usage. A pre-set Standard View of PR showing total and unique item requests, as well as platform searches.
Print_ISSN A COUNTER identifier for the ISSN assigned to the print manifestation of a work.

 

See also ISSN.

0028-4793
Proprietary Identifier See Proprietary_ID.
Proprietary_ID A COUNTER identifier for a unique identifier given by publishers and other content providers to a product or collection of products.
Provider ID A unique identifier for a content provider and used by discovery services and other content sites to track usage for content items provided by that provider.
Publication Date, Publication_Date An optional field in COUNTER item reports and Provider Discovery Reports.

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

Publisher An organization whose function is to commission, create, collect, validate, host, distribute and trade information online and/or in printed form. Sage, Cambridge University Press
Publisher_ID A COUNTER identifier for a publisher’s unique identifier. In COUNTER reports the publisher ID is presented as a combination of identifier type and value.
R4 Release 4.
R5 Release 5.
Reference work An authoritative source of information about a subject used to find quick answers to questions. The content may be stable or updated over time.  

Dictionary, encyclopedia, directory, manual, guide, atlas, bibliography, index

References A list of works referred to in an article or chapter with sufficient detail to enable the identification and location of each work.
Registry of compliance The COUNTER register of content providers compliant with the COUNTER Code of Practice.
Regular A COUNTER Access_Method. 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.
Release Version of the COUNTER Code of Practice.
Report Attribute, Report_Attributes A series of zero or more report attributes applied to the report. Typically, a report attribute affects how the usage is presented, but does not change the totals. Exclude_Report_Header;

Attributes_To_Show=Access_Type|YOP

Report filters In COUNTER reports the report filter can be used to limit the usage returned. Data_Type=journal
Report_ID The alphanumeric identifier of a specific report Standard View.  

DR_D1: Database Search and Item Usage.

TR_J3, Journal Usage by Access Type

 

 

Report item attributes A series of elements that describe the nature of usage for an item and may include Access_Type, YOP, etc.
Report name

Report_Name

The name of a COUNTER report. Journal Title Report 1
Report validation tool See COUNTER Report Validation Tool.
Reporting period, Reporting_Period The total time period covered in a usage report.
Repository A host who provides access to an institution’s research output. Includes subject repositories, institution, department, etc. Cranfield CERES
Repository item A content item hosted in a repository, including one that consists of one or more digital objects such as text files, audio, video or data, described by associated metadata.
Request A category of COUNTER Metric Types that represents a user accessing content (i.e. full text of an article). Total_Item_Requests
Requestor ID A system-generated hash identifier that uniquely identifies a requestor session.
Required reports The COUNTER reports that Host_Types are required to provide.
Research data Data that supports research findings and may include databases, spreadsheets, tables, raw transaction logs, etc.
RESTful COUNTER_SUSHI API A RESTful implementation of SUSHI automation intended to return COUNTER Release 5 reports and snippets of COUNTER usage in JSON format.
Return code Defined and maintained by W3C (http://www.w3.org/Protocols/HTTP/HTRESP.html).
Robot See Internet robot, crawler, spider.
Scholarly Collaboration Network A service used by researchers to share information about their work. Mendeley, Reddit/Science
Scholarly Collaboration Network data aggregator A host who provides access to metrics on communications and interactions on scholarly collaboration networks. Altmetric.com
Screen scraping The action of using a computer program to copy data from a website.
Search A user-driven intellectual query, typically equated to submitting the search form of the online service to the server.
Search engine A service that allows users to search for content via the World Wide Web.
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.

 

Note: If a search is conducted across multiple databases, each database searched can count that search.

 

See also Regular Search.

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

 

See also Automated Search.

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

 

See also Federated search.

Searches_Platform A COUNTER Metric Type used to report searches conducted on a platform.

 

Note: Searches conducted against multiple databases on the platform will only be counted once.

Section The first level of subdivision of a book or reference work. Chapter, entry
Section Types, Section_Type A COUNTER attribute that identifies the type of section that was accessed by the user. Article, book, chapter
Serial A publication in any medium issued in successive parts bearing numerical or chronological designations and intended to be continued indefinitely. This definition includes periodicals, newspapers, and annuals (reports, yearbooks, monographic series). (NISO)
Server-side scripting language Server-side scripting is a technique used in web development which involves employing scripts on a web server which produce a response customized for each user’s request to the website. The alternative is for the web server itself to deliver a static web page. [Wikipedia]
Service See Content host. ScienceDirect, Academic Universe
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). (NISO)
Session cookie A data file that a web server can place on a browser to track activity by a user and attribute that usage to a session.
Session ID A unique identifier for a single user session or, in case of a double-click, multiple clicks on the same link within 30 seconds of each other.
Sites See Hosts.
Spider See Internet robot, crawler, spider.
Standard View A pre-defined version of a Master report, designed to meet the most common needs. Book Requests (Excluding OA_Gold)

Journal Article Requests

 

Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative See SUSHI.
SUSHI An international standard (Z39-93) that describes a method for automating the harvesting of reports.

 

COUNTER_SUSHI is an implementation of this standard for harvesting COUNTER reports.

 

COUNTER compliance requires content hosts to implement COUNTER_SUSHI.

TAB Separated Value See TSV.
TDM Text and data mining (TDM) is a computational process whereby text or datasets are crawled by software that recognizes entities, relationships, and actions. (STM Publishers)

 

An Access_Method in a COUNTER report used to separate regular usage from usage that represents access to content for the purposes of text and data mining.

Text and data mining See TDM.
Thesis_Or_Dissertation A COUNTER data type.

 

Dissertation: a long essay on a particular subject, especially one written as a requirement for the Doctor of Philosophy degree.

 

Thesis: a long essay or dissertation involving personal research, written by a candidate for a college degree.

 

Title The name of a book, journal, or reference work.
Title Master Report A report that contains additional filters and breakdowns beyond those included in the standard COUNTER reports and are aggregated to publication title level rather than towards individual articles/chapters.
Title Reports A series of COUNTER reports where usage is aggregated to the publication title level.
TLS (HTTPS) Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol, Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) protocol.
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.
TR Title Report.
TR_B1 Book Requests (Excluding “OA_Gold”). A pre-set book filter of TR showing full text activity for all content which is not Gold Open Access.

Numbers between sites will vary based on whether the content is delivered as a complete book or by chapter.

TR_B2 Book Access Denied. A pre-set book filter of TR showing where users were denied access because simultaneous use (concurrency) licenses were exceeded, or their institution did not have a license for the database.
TR_B3 Book Usage by Access Type. A pre-set book filter of TR showing all applicable metric types broken down by Access_Type.
TR_J1 Journal Requests (Excluding OA_Gold). A pre-set journal filter of TR showing full text activity for all content which is not Gold Open Access.
TR_J2 Journal Accessed Denied. A pre-set journal filter of TR showing all applicable metric types broken down by Access_Type.
TR_J3 Journal Usage by Access Type. A pre-set journal filter of TR showing all applicable metric types broken down by Access_Type.
TR_J4 Journal Requests by YOP (excluding OA_Gold). A pre-set journal filter of TR breaking down the full text usage of non-Gold Open Access content by year of publication (YOP).
Transaction A usage event.
TSV Tab Separated Values.
Turnaway See Access denied.
Unique item Matchless content item.
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 Matchless book title.
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.
URI In information technology, a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is a string of characters used to identify a resource. Such identification enables interaction with representations of the resource over a network, typically the World Wide Web, using specific protocols. [Wikipedia]

 

An optional element on a COUNTER report used to identify the item for which usage is being reported.

URL Uniform Resource Locator. The address of a World Wide Web page.
URN Uniform Resource Name, which identifies a resource by name in a particular namespace.
Usage attributes Fields or elements used to classify or qualify COUNTER usage for analysis. Access_Type

Access_Method

YOP

User A person who accesses the online resource.
User agent An identifier that is part of the HTTP/S protocol that identifies the software (i.e. browser) being used to access the site. May be used by robots to identify themselves.
User cookie A small piece of data sent from a website and stored on the user’s computer by the user’s web browser while the user is browsing.
User session See Session.
UTF-8 UTF-8 is a variable width character encoding capable of encoding all 1,112,064 valid code points in Unicode using one to four 8-bit bytes. The encoding is defined by the Unicode Standard, and was originally designed by Ken Thompson and Rob Pike. The name is derived from Unicode Transformation Format – 8-bit. [Wikipedia]
Vendor A publisher or other online information provider who delivers licensed content to the customer and with whom the customer has a contractual relationship. Taylor & Francis, EBSCO
Version of Record A fixed version of a journal article that has been made available by any organization that acts as a publisher that formally and exclusively declares the article “published”.
W3C The World Wide Web Consortium is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web. [Wikipedia]
XML  eXtensible Markup Language.
Year of Publication See YOP.
YOP Calendar year in which an article, item, issue, or volume is published.

 

For the COUNTER_YOP attribute, use the year of publication for the print when it differs from the online.

Z39.50 An international standard protocol created by NISO for search. A Z39.50 client can search any Z39.50-compatible online service. Often used by federated search services to facilitate searching content at other sites.

 

 

Sections and Appendices »

Sections

Foreword Abstract Conventions 1.0 Introduction 2.0 Overview 3.0 Technical Specifications for COUNTER Reports 4.0 COUNTER reports 5.0 Delivery of COUNTER Reports 6.0 Logging Usage 7.0 Processing Rules for Underlying COUNTER Reporting Data 8.0 SUSHI for Automated Report Harvesting 9.0 Audit 10.0 Other Compliance Topics 11.0 Extending the Code of Practice 12.0 Continuous Maintenance 13.0 Transitioning from Previous Releases or to New Reporting Services 14.0 Change History

Appendices

3.0 Technical Specifications for COUNTER Reports

3.1 COUNTER Reports for Libraries

Reports for R5 consist of four Master Reports Reports which contain additional filters and breakdowns beyond those included in the standard COUNTER reports.that allow the librarian to filter and configure to create customized views of their usage data. R5 also specifies Standard Views (pre-set filters/configuration).

To achieve compliance, a content provider An organization whose function is to commission, create, collect, validate, host, distribute and trade information in electronic form and in doing so provides usage data. This includes organisations sometimes referred to as “Publishers”, “Vendors”, “Platforms” and/or “Intermediaries”.MUST offer the Master Reports Reports which contain additional filters and breakdowns beyond those included in the standard COUNTER reports.and Standard Views that are applicable to their Host_Types, with the exception of Standard Views that always would be empty (e.g. an Access Denied An attempt by a user A person who accesses the online resourceto access content that was denied because their institution lacked a proper license or simultaneous user A person who accesses the online resourcelimits specified in the license were exceeded.Standard View if denials cannot occur). An independent audit is required for these reports.

Content providers may offer additional Master Reports Reports which contain additional filters and breakdowns beyond those included in the standard COUNTER reports.and Standard Views not required for compliance or custom reports (see Section 11.2), according to the rules set for the reports by the Code of Practice. For these reports an audit isn’t required.

3.1.1 Master Reports

Master Reports include all relevant metrics and attributes; they are intended to be customizable through the application of filters Limits or restrictions placed on the usage to be included in a COUNTER report usually expressed as a name-value pair, i.e. “Access_Type=Controlled”and other configuration options, allowing librarians to create a report specific to their needs. The four Master Reports Reports which contain additional filters and breakdowns beyond those included in the standard COUNTER reports.are shown in Table 3.a along with their Report_ID, Report_Name and Host_Types who are REQUIRED to provide these reports. See Section 3.3.1 below for details on Host_Types.

Table 3.a (below): Master Reports

Report_ID Report_Name Details Host_Types
PR Platform Master Report A customizable report summarizing activity across a content provider’s platforms that allows the user A person who accesses the online resourceto apply filters Limits or restrictions placed on the usage to be included in a COUNTER report usually expressed as a name-value pair, i.e. “Access_Type=Controlled”and select other configuration options. All Host_Types:
A&I_Database
Aggregated_Full_Content
Data_Repository*
Discovery_Service
eBook
eBook_Collection
eJournal
Full_Content_Database
Multimedia
Multimedia_Collection
Repository
Scholarly_Collaboration_Network
DR Database Master Report A customizable report detailing activity by database that allows the user A person who accesses the online resourceto apply filters Limits or restrictions placed on the usage to be included in a COUNTER report usually expressed as a name-value pair, i.e. “Access_Type=Controlled”and select other configuration options. A&I_Database
Aggregated_Full_Content
Discovery_Service
eBook_Collection
Full_Content_Database
Multimedia_Collection
TR Title Master Report A customizable report detailing activity at the title level (journal, book, etc.) that allows the user A person who accesses the online resourceto apply filters Limits or restrictions placed on the usage to be included in a COUNTER report usually expressed as a name-value pair, i.e. “Access_Type=Controlled”and select other configuration options. Aggregated_Full_Content
eBook
eBook_Collection
eJournal
IR Item Master Report A granular, customizable report showing activity at the level of the item (article, chapter, media object, etc.) that allows the user A person who accesses the online resourceto apply filters Limits or restrictions placed on the usage to be included in a COUNTER report usually expressed as a name-value pair, i.e. “Access_Type=Controlled”and select other configuration options. Data_Repository*
Multimedia
Repository
Scholarly_Collaboration_Network

*Data repositories may choose to conform to the Code of Practice Release 5 or, alternatively, may wish to work with the Code of Practice for Research Data.

Figure 3.a (below) provides an example of how the user A person who accesses the online resourceinterface could look. The user A person who accesses the online resourcewill be presented with an interface that allows them to select usage dates, one or more Metric_Types, Data_Types, Access_Types, etc. and indicate if the filter columns are to be included. Including the column will cause usage to be broken out by individual values for the selected filter, whereas not including the column will result in usage being summarized for the selected filter.

Picture1

Figure 3.a: Example of a user A person who accesses the online resourceinterface

3.1.2 Standard Views

The goal of Standard Views is to provide a set of pre-filtered views of the Master Reports Reports which contain additional filters and breakdowns beyond those included in the standard COUNTER reports.covering the most common set of library needs. Report_IDs for Standard Views are derived from the Report_ID of the Master Report that they are based on. The format is {Master Report_ID}_{View ID}.

3.1.2.1 Platform An interface from a “Content Provider” that delivers the content to the user A person who accesses the online resourceand that counts and provides the COUNTER usage reports.Usage Standard Views

The Platform An interface from a “Content Provider” that delivers the content to the user A person who accesses the online resourceand that counts and provides the COUNTER usage reports.Usage Standard Views are derived from the Platform An interface from a “Content Provider” that delivers the content to the user A person who accesses the online resourceand that counts and provides the COUNTER usage reports.Master Report and provide a summary of activity on a given platform An interface from a “Content Provider” that delivers the content to the user A person who accesses the online resourceand that counts and provides the COUNTER usage reports.to support the evaluation of platforms and to provide high-level statistical data to support surveys and reporting to funders.

Table 3.b (below): Platform Usage Standard Views

Report_ID Report_Name Details Host_Types
PR_P1 Platform Usage Platform-level usage summarized by Metric_Type. All Host_Types:
A&I_Database
Aggregated_Full_Content
Data_Repository*
Discovery_Service
eBook
eBook_Collection
eJournal
Full_Content_Database
Multimedia
Multimedia_Collection
Repository
Scholarly_Collaboration_Network

*Data repositories may choose to conform to the Code of Practice Release 5 or, alternatively, may wish to work with the Code of Practice for Research Data.

See Section 4.1 below for details on Platform An interface from a “Content Provider” that delivers the content to the user A person who accesses the online resourceand that counts and provides the COUNTER usage reports.Usage Reports.

3.1.2.2 Database Usage Standard Views

The Database Usage Standard Views support the evaluation of the value of a given database of resources (e.g. a full-text database, an A&I database, or a multimedia Non-textual media such as images, audio and video.collection).

Table 3.c (below): Database Usage Standard Views

Report_ID Report_Name Details Host_Types
DR_D1 Database Search A user-driven intellectual query, typically equated to submitting the “Search” form of the online service A branded group of online information products from one or more vendors that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete service, or at a lower level (e.g. a collection)to the server.and Item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.Usage Reports on key Searches, Investigations and Requests metrics needed to evaluate a database. A&I_Database
Aggregated_Full_Content
Discovery_Service
eBook_Collection
Full_Content_Database
Multimedia_Collection
DR_D2 Database Access Denied Reports on Access Denied An attempt by a user A person who accesses the online resourceto access content that was denied because their institution lacked a proper license or simultaneous user A person who accesses the online resourcelimits specified in the license were exceeded.activity for databases where users were denied access because simultaneous-use licenses were exceeded or their institution The organization for which usage is being reported.did not have a license A contract or agreement that provides an organization or individual (licensee) with the right to access certain content.for the database. A&I_Database
Aggregated_Full_Content
Discovery_Service
eBook_Collection
Full_Content_Database
Multimedia_Collection

See Section 4.2 below for details on Database Usage Reports.

3.1.2.3 Title Usage Standard Views

Title Usage Standard Views are used to support the evaluation of the value of a given serial (e.g. journal, magazine, or newspaper) or monograph (e.g. book, eBook, textbook, or reference work) title.

Table 3.d (below): Title Usage Standard Views

Report_ID Report_Name Details Host_Types
TR_B1 Book Requests (Excluding OA_Gold) Reports on full-text activity for books, excluding Gold 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 A contract or agreement that provides an organization or individual (licensee) with the right to access certain content.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. [wikipedia]content, as Total_Item_Requests and Unique_Title_Requests. The Unique_Title_Requests provides comparable usage across 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. A COUNTER “Data_Type”.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 A non-serial publication of any length available in print (in hard or soft covers or in loose-leaf format) or in electronic format. A COUNTER “Data_Type”.or by chapter). Aggregated_Full_Content
eBook
eBook_Collection
TR_B2 Book Access Denied Reports on Access Denied An attempt by a user A person who accesses the online resourceto access content that was denied because their institution lacked a proper license or simultaneous user A person who accesses the online resourcelimits specified in the license were exceeded.activity for books where users were denied access because simultaneous-use licenses were exceeded or their institution The organization for which usage is being reported.did not have a license A contract or agreement that provides an organization or individual (licensee) with the right to access certain content.for the book. Aggregated_Full_Content
eBook
eBook_Collection
TR_B3 Book Usage by Access Type Reports on 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. A COUNTER “Data_Type”.usage showing all applicable Metric_Types broken down by Access_Type. Aggregated_Full_Content
eBook
eBook_Collection
TR_J1 Journal Requests (Excluding OA_Gold) Reports on usage of journal content, excluding Gold 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 A contract or agreement that provides an organization or individual (licensee) with the right to access certain content.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. [wikipedia]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 an HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browsersfull text automatically displays and the user A person who accesses the online resourcethen accesses the PDF Portable Document Format, file formatted for the Adobe Acrobat reader. Items such as full-text articles or journals published in PDF format tend to replicate the printed page in appearanceversion. The Total_Item_Requests shows overall activity. Aggregated_Full_Content
eJournal
TR_J2 Journal Access Denied Reports on Access Denied An attempt by a user A person who accesses the online resourceto access content that was denied because their institution lacked a proper license or simultaneous user A person who accesses the online resourcelimits specified in the license were exceeded.activity for journal content where users were denied access because simultaneous-use licenses were exceeded or their institution The organization for which usage is being reported.did not have a license A contract or agreement that provides an organization or individual (licensee) with the right to access certain content.for the title. Aggregated_Full_Content
eJournal
TR_J3 Journal Usage by Access Type Reports on usage of journal content for all Metric_Types broken down by Access_Type. Aggregated_Full_Content
eJournal
TR_J4 Journal Requests by YOP (Excluding OA_Gold) Breaks down the usage of journal content, excluding Gold 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 A contract or agreement that provides an organization or individual (licensee) with the right to access certain content.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. [wikipedia]content, by year of publication (YOP), providing counts for the Metric_Types Total_Item_Requests and Unique_Item_Requests. Provides the details necessary to analyze usage of content in backfiles or covered by perpetual access agreements. Note that COUNTER reports do not provide access model or perpetual access rights details. Aggregated_Full_Content
eJournal

See Section 4.3 below for details on Title Usage Standard Views.

3.1.2.4 Item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.Usage Standard Views

The Standard Views for item-level reporting are designed to support the most common reporting needs. The Standard View for repositories (Journal Article An item of original written work published in a “Journal”, other serial publication, or in a “Book”. An “Article” is complete, but usually cites other relevant published works in its list of “References”, if it has one. A COUNTER “Data_Type” used to identify and filter usage of content defined as “Articles”.Requests) provides insight into the usage of individual journal articles. The Standard View for multimedia (Multimedia Item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.Requests) allows evaluation of multimedia Non-textual media such as images, audio and video.at the title level.

Table 3.e (below): Item Usage Standard Views

Report_ID Report_Name Details Host_Types
IR_A1 Journal Article An item of original written work published in a “Journal”, other serial publication, or in a “Book”. An “Article” is complete, but usually cites other relevant published works in its list of “References”, if it has one. A COUNTER “Data_Type” used to identify and filter usage of content defined as “Articles”.Requests Reports on journal article An item of original written work published in a “Journal”, other serial publication, or in a “Book”. An “Article” is complete, but usually cites other relevant published works in its list of “References”, if it has one. A COUNTER “Data_Type” used to identify and filter usage of content defined as “Articles”.requests at the article An item of original written work published in a “Journal”, other serial publication, or in a “Book”. An “Article” is complete, but usually cites other relevant published works in its list of “References”, if it has one. A COUNTER “Data_Type” used to identify and filter usage of content defined as “Articles”.level. This report is limited to content with a Data_Type A classification identifying one of various types of content.of Article, Parent_Data_Type of Journal, and Metric_Types of Total_Item_Requests and Unique_Item_Requests.

This Standard View must be provided only if (a) it is clear for all articles in IR whether they are journal articles or not and (b) the parent In COUNTER “Item Reports” the “Parent” is the publication an item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.is part of i.e. for a “Journal Article”, the “Parent” is the “Journal”; and for a “Book Chapter”, the “Parent” is the “Book”.item is known for all journal articles.

Repository
Scholarly_Collaboration_Network
IR_M1 Multimedia Item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.Requests Reports on multimedia Non-textual media such as images, audio and video.requests at the item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.level. Multimedia

See Section 4.4 below for details on Item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.Usage Reports.

3.2 Formats for COUNTER Reports

R5 reports can be delivered in tabular form or as machine-readable data (JSON) via the COUNTER_SUSHI API. The tabular form MUST be either Excel or a tab-separated-value (TSV) file. The reports in JSON and TSV format MUST be encoded using UTF-8. The JSON format MUST comply with the COUNTER_SUSHI API Specification (see Section 8 below).

All COUNTER reports have the same layout and structure. Figure 3.b (below) provides an example of the “Journal Requests (Excluding OA_Gold)” Standard View. Figure 3.c (below) shows the layout for tabular reports, which will be the focus of the discussions throughout this document. Note that the COUNTER_SUSHI API Specification includes the same elements with the same or similar names; therefore, understanding the tabular reports translates to an understanding of what is REQUIRED in reports retrieved via the COUNTER_SUSHI API.

Figure 3.b: Sample “Journal Requests (Excluding OA_Gold)” Standard View

image3

Figure 3.c: Layout for tabular COUNTER reports

All COUNTER reports have a header. In tabular reports, the header is separated from the body with a blank row (to facilitate sorting and filtering in Excel). Beneath that is the body of the report with column headings. The contents of the body will vary by report. Figure 3.c (above) identifies the different kinds of information you may find in the report and the relative positioning of this information. All of this is discussed in more detail below.

3.2.1 Report Header

The first 12 rows of a tabular COUNTER report contain the header, and the 13th row is always blank. The header information is presented as a series of name-value pairs, with the names appearing in Column A and the corresponding values appearing in Column B. All tabular COUNTER reports have the same names in Column A. Column B entries will vary by report.

Figure 3.d: Common Report Header Information

Figure 3.d (above) shows the layout of the common header. The 12 elements in Column A and the values in Column B are discussed in more detail in the table below. Note that the element names (Column A) MUST appear in the COUNTER report exactly as they are shown here. Capitalization, spelling, and punctuation MUST match exactly.

Table 3.f (below): COUNTER Report Header Elements

Element Name Description of value to provide Example
Report_Name The name of the report as it appears in Section 3.1. Journal Requests (Excluding OA_Gold)
Report_ID The unique identifier for the report as it appears in Section 3.1. TR_J1
Release The COUNTER release this report complies with. 5
Institution_Name For subscription-based services, the name of the institution The organization for which usage is being reported.to which the usage is attributed. For OA publishers and repositories, where it is not possible to identify usage by individual institutions, the usage should be attributed to “The World”. Mt. Laurel University
Institution_ID A series of identifiers that represent the institution The organization for which usage is being reported.in the format of {namespace}:{value}. Include multiple identifiers by separating with a semicolon-space (“; ”). Permitted identifier namespaces are ISIL, ISNI, OCLC and, for local identifiers assigned by the content provider, the platform An interface from a “Content Provider” that delivers the content to the user A person who accesses the online resourceand that counts and provides the COUNTER usage reports.ID of the content provider. ISNI:0000000419369078; pubsiteA:PrncU
Metric_Types A semicolon-space delimited list of Metric_Types requested for this report. Note that even though a Metric_Type was requested, it might not be included in the body of the report if no report items had usage of that type. Unique_Item_Investigations; Unique_Item_Requests
Report_Filters A series of zero or more report filters Limits or restrictions placed on the usage to be included in a COUNTER report usually expressed as a name-value pair, i.e. “Access_Type=Controlled”applied on the reported usage, excluding Metric_Type, Begin_Date and End_Date (which appear in separate rows in the tabular reports for easier reading). Typically, a report filter In COUNTER Reports the “Report Filter” can be used to limit the usage returned in a report.affects the amount of usage reported. Entries appear in the form of {filter name}={filter value} with multiple filter name-value pairs separated with a semicolon-space (“; ”) and multiple filter values for a single filter name separated by the vertical pipe (“|”) character. Access_Type=Controlled; Access_Method=Regular
Report_Attributes A series of zero or more report attributes applied to the report. Typically, a report attribute In COUNTER Reports the “Report Attributes” can be used to modify how a report should be presented.  Typically, a “Report Attribute” will not limit or filter the usage being presented.affects how the usage is presented but does not change the totals.

Entries appear in the form of {attribute name}={attribute value} with multiple attribute name-value pairs separated with a semicolon-space (“; ”) and multiple attribute values for a single attribute name separated by the vertical pipe (“|”) character.

Attributes_To_Show=Access_Type
Exceptions An indication of some difference between the usage that was requested and the usage that is being presented in the report. The format for the exception values is “{Exception Number}: {Exception Description} ({Data})” with multiple exception values separated by semicolon-space (“; ”). The Exception Number and Exception Description MUST match values provided in Table F.1 of Appendix F. The Data is OPTIONAL.

Note that for tabular reports, only the limited set of exceptions An optional element that may be included with a COUNTER report indicating of some difference between the usage that was requested and the usage that is being presented in the report. An exception includes the following elements:  “Error_No” “Exception_Description” and data.where usage is returned will apply.

3031: Usage Not Ready for Requested Dates (request was for 2016-01-01 to 2016-12-31; however, usage is only available to 2016-08-31)
Reporting_Period The date range for the usage represented in the report, in the form of: “Begin_Date=yyyy-mm-dd; End_Date=yyyy-mm-dd”. Begin_Date=2016-01-01; End_Date=2016-08-30
Created The date and time the usage was prepared, in RFC3339 date-time format (yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ssZ). 2016-10-11T14:37:15Z
Created_By The name of the organization or system that created the COUNTER report. EBSCO Information Services
360 COUNTER
(blank row) Row 13 MUST be blank.

3.2.2 Report Body

Figures 3.b and 3.c (above) show the body of the COUNTER reports containing an extensive array of data elements. Not all reports will include all elements. When formatting a report, maintain the order of elements described below, but only include those elements relevant to that report. Where practical, the discussion below will provide guidance as to which reports an element may be included in. See Section 4 below for an extensive mapping of elements to reports.

Report Item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.Description

Every COUNTER report will have columns that describe its report items.

Table 3.g (below): Elements that Describe the Report Item

Element Name Description Reports Examples
Database Name of database for which usage is being reported. Applies only to Database Reports. DR
DR_D1, DR_D2
MEDLINE
Title Name of the 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. A COUNTER “Data_Type”.or journal for which usage is being reported. Applies only to Title Reports. TR
TR_B1, TR_B2, TR_B3, TR_J1, TR_J2, TR_J3, TR_J4
Journal of Economics
Gone with the Wind
Item Name of the article, book chapter, multimedia work, or repository item A content item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.hosted in a “Repository”, which consists of one or more digital objects such as text files, audio, video or data, described by associated “Metadata”.for which usage is being reported. Applies only to Item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.Reports. IR
IR_A1, IR_M1
CRISPR gene-editing tested in a person for the first time
Publisher Name of the publisher An organization whose function is to commission, create, collect, validate, host, distribute and trade information online and/or in printed formof the content item. Note that when the content item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.is a database, the publisher An organization whose function is to commission, create, collect, validate, host, distribute and trade information online and/or in printed formwould be the organization that creates that database. DR, TR, IR
DR_D1, DR_D2, TR_B1, TR_B2, TR_B3, TR_J1, TR_J2, TR_J3, TR_J4, IR_A1, IR_M1
Taylor & Francis
APA
Publisher_ID A unique identifier for the publisher An organization whose function is to commission, create, collect, validate, host, distribute and trade information online and/or in printed formin the form of {namespace}:{value}. When multiple identifiers are available for a given publisher, include all identifiers separated with semicolon-space (“; ”), but only one per type. Permitted identifier namespaces are ISNI International Standard Name Identifier is a standard that assigned globally unique identifiers to people and organizations. COUNTER defines ISNI as an optional identifier for an institution.and, for local identifiers assigned by the content provider, the platform An interface from a “Content Provider” that delivers the content to the user A person who accesses the online resourceand that counts and provides the COUNTER usage reports.ID of the content provider. DR, TR, IR
DR_D1, DR_D2, TR_B1, TR_B2, TR_B3, TR_J1, TR_J2, TR_J3, TR_J4, IR_A1, IR_M1
ISNI:1234123412341234
ebscohost:PubX

Platform

The next column in the report identifies the platform An interface from a “Content Provider” that delivers the content to the user A person who accesses the online resourceand that counts and provides the COUNTER usage reports.where the activity happened.

Table 3.h (below): Elements that Identify the Platform

Element Name Description Reports Examples
Platform Identifies the platform/content host where the activity took place. Note that in cases where individual titles or groups of content have their own branded user A person who accesses the online resourceexperience but reside on a common host, the identity of the underlying common host MUST be used as the Platform. All reports:
PR, DR, TR, IR
PR_P1, DR_D1, DR_D2, TR_B1, TR_B2, TR_B3, TR_J1, TR_J2, TR_J3, TR_J4, IR_A1, IR_M1
EBSCOhost
ProQuest
ScienceDirect

Report Item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.Identifiers

The item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.being reported on is further identified by the columns to the right of the platform.

Table 3.i (below): Elements for Report Item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.Identifiers

Element Name Description Reports Examples
Authors Authors of the work for which usage is being reported in the format {author name} ({author identifier}) with author identifier in the format {namespace}:{value}. Permitted identifier namespaces are ISNI International Standard Name Identifier is a standard that assigned globally unique identifiers to people and organizations. COUNTER defines ISNI as an optional identifier for an institution.and ORCID. A maximum of three authors should be included with multiple authors separated by semicolon-space (“; ”).

Note that this element is only used in tabular reports, in JSON reports authors are represented as Item_Contributors with Type Author.

IR
IR_A1
John Smith (ORCID:0000-0001-2345-6789)
Publication_Date Date of publication for the work in the format yyyy-mm-dd. IR
IR_A1
2018-09-05
Article_Version ALPSP/NISO code indicating the version of the parent In COUNTER “Item Reports” the “Parent” is the publication an item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.is part of i.e. for a “Journal Article”, the “Parent” is the “Journal”; and for a “Book Chapter”, the “Parent” is the “Book”.work. Possible values are the codes for Accepted Manuscript, Version of Record, Corrected Version of Record, and Enhanced Version of Record. IR
IR_A1
VoR
DOI Digital Object Identifier for the item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.being reported on in the format {DOI prefix}/{DOI suffix}. TR, IR
TR_B1, TR_B2, TR_B3, TR_J1, TR_J2, TR_J3, TR_J4, IR_A1, IR_M1
10.1629/uksg.434
Proprietary_ID A proprietary ID assigned by the content provider An organization whose function is to commission, create, collect, validate, host, distribute and trade information in electronic form and in doing so provides usage data. This includes organisations sometimes referred to as “Publishers”, “Vendors”, “Platforms” and/or “Intermediaries”.for the item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.being reported on. Format as {namespace}:{value} where the namespace is the platform An interface from a “Content Provider” that delivers the content to the user A person who accesses the online resourceand that counts and provides the COUNTER usage reports.ID of the host which assigned the proprietary identifier. DR, TR, IR
DR_D1, DR_D2, TR_B1, TR_B2, TR_B3, TR_J1, TR_J2, TR_J3, TR_J4, IR_A1, IR_M1
publisherA:jnrlCode123
ISBN International Standard 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. A COUNTER “Data_Type”.Number in the format ISBN-13 with hyphens. TR, IR
TR_B1, TR_B2, TR_B3
978-3-16-148410-0
Print_ISSN International Standard Serial A publication in any medium issued in successive parts bearing numerical or chronological designations and intended to be continued indefinitely. This definition includes periodicals, newspapers, and annuals (reports, yearbooks, monographic series). (NISO)Number assigned to the print instance of a serial A publication in any medium issued in successive parts bearing numerical or chronological designations and intended to be continued indefinitely. This definition includes periodicals, newspapers, and annuals (reports, yearbooks, monographic series). (NISO)publication in the format nnnn-nnn[nX]. TR, IR
TR_B1, TR_B2, TR_B3, TR_J1, TR_J2, TR_J3, TR_J4, IR_A1
0953-1513
Online_ISSN International Standard Serial A publication in any medium issued in successive parts bearing numerical or chronological designations and intended to be continued indefinitely. This definition includes periodicals, newspapers, and annuals (reports, yearbooks, monographic series). (NISO)Number assigned to the online instance of a serial A publication in any medium issued in successive parts bearing numerical or chronological designations and intended to be continued indefinitely. This definition includes periodicals, newspapers, and annuals (reports, yearbooks, monographic series). (NISO)publication in the format nnnn-nnn[nX]. TR, IR
TR_B1, TR_B2, TR_B3, TR_J1, TR_J2, TR_J3, TR_J4, IR_A1
2048-7754
Linking_ISSN International Standard Serial A publication in any medium issued in successive parts bearing numerical or chronological designations and intended to be continued indefinitely. This definition includes periodicals, newspapers, and annuals (reports, yearbooks, monographic series). (NISO)Number that links together the ISSNs assigned to all instances of a serial A publication in any medium issued in successive parts bearing numerical or chronological designations and intended to be continued indefinitely. This definition includes periodicals, newspapers, and annuals (reports, yearbooks, monographic series). (NISO)publication in the format nnnn-nnn[nX] (JSON reports only). TR, IR
TR_B1, TR_B2, TR_B3, TR_J1, TR_J2, TR_J3, TR_J4, IR_A1
0953-1513
URI Universal Resource Identifier, a valid URL or URN according to RFC 3986. TR, IR
TR_B1, TR_B2, TR_B3, TR_J1, TR_J2, TR_J3, TR_J4, IR_A1, IR_M1

Parent Item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.Description and Identifiers

When reporting usage on content items like articles and 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. A COUNTER “Data_Type”.chapters, it is often desirable to identify the item’s parent In COUNTER “Item Reports” the “Parent” is the publication an item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.is part of i.e. for a “Journal Article”, the “Parent” is the “Journal”; and for a “Book Chapter”, the “Parent” is the “Book”.item, such as the journal or 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. A COUNTER “Data_Type”.it is part of. This next grouping of columns identifies the parents and is used by a small subset of reports.

Table 3.j (below): Elements that Describe a Parent In COUNTER “Item Reports” the “Parent” is the publication an item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.is part of i.e. for a “Journal Article”, the “Parent” is the “Journal”; and for a “Book Chapter”, the “Parent” is the “Book”.Item

Element Name Description Reports Examples
Parent_Title Title of the parent In COUNTER “Item Reports” the “Parent” is the publication an item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.is part of i.e. for a “Journal Article”, the “Parent” is the “Journal”; and for a “Book Chapter”, the “Parent” is the “Book”.item. IR
IR_A1
The Serials Librarian
Parent_Authors Authors of the parent In COUNTER “Item Reports” the “Parent” is the publication an item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.is part of i.e. for a “Journal Article”, the “Parent” is the “Journal”; and for a “Book Chapter”, the “Parent” is the “Book”.work. See the Authors element in Table 3.i for the format. IR
IR_A1
Parent_Publication_Date Date of publication for the parent In COUNTER “Item Reports” the “Parent” is the publication an item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.is part of i.e. for a “Journal Article”, the “Parent” is the “Journal”; and for a “Book Chapter”, the “Parent” is the “Book”.work in the format yyyy-mm-dd. IR
Parent_Article_Version ALPSP/NISO code indicating the version of the parent In COUNTER “Item Reports” the “Parent” is the publication an item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.is part of i.e. for a “Journal Article”, the “Parent” is the “Journal”; and for a “Book Chapter”, the “Parent” is the “Book”.work. Possible values are the codes for Accepted Manuscript, Version of Record, Corrected Version of Record, and Enhanced Version of Record. IR
IR_A1
VoR
Parent_Data_Type Identifies the nature of the parent. IR Journal
Parent_DOI DOI assigned to the parent In COUNTER “Item Reports” the “Parent” is the publication an item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.is part of i.e. for a “Journal Article”, the “Parent” is the “Journal”; and for a “Book Chapter”, the “Parent” is the “Book”.item in the format {DOI prefix}/{DOI suffix}. IR
IR_A1
Parent_Proprietary_ID A proprietary ID that identifies the parent In COUNTER “Item Reports” the “Parent” is the publication an item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.is part of i.e. for a “Journal Article”, the “Parent” is the “Journal”; and for a “Book Chapter”, the “Parent” is the “Book”.item. Format as {namespace}:{value} where the namespace is the platform An interface from a “Content Provider” that delivers the content to the user A person who accesses the online resourceand that counts and provides the COUNTER usage reports.ID of the host which assigned the proprietary identifier. IR
IR_A1
TandF:wser20
Parent_ISBN ISBN of the parent In COUNTER “Item Reports” the “Parent” is the publication an item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.is part of i.e. for a “Journal Article”, the “Parent” is the “Journal”; and for a “Book Chapter”, the “Parent” is the “Book”.item in the format ISBN-13 with hyphens. IR
Parent_Print_ISSN Print ISSN The International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is a unique 8-digit number used to identify a print or electronic periodical publication. Periodical published in both print and electronic form may have two ISSNs, a print ISSN and an electronic ISSN.assigned to the parent In COUNTER “Item Reports” the “Parent” is the publication an item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.is part of i.e. for a “Journal Article”, the “Parent” is the “Journal”; and for a “Book Chapter”, the “Parent” is the “Book”.item in the format nnnn-nnn[nX]. IR
IR_A1
0361-526X
Parent_Online_ISSN Online ISSN The International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is a unique 8-digit number used to identify a print or electronic periodical publication. Periodical published in both print and electronic form may have two ISSNs, a print ISSN and an electronic ISSN.assigned to the parent In COUNTER “Item Reports” the “Parent” is the publication an item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.is part of i.e. for a “Journal Article”, the “Parent” is the “Journal”; and for a “Book Chapter”, the “Parent” is the “Book”.item in the format nnnn-nnn[nX]. IR
IR_A1
1541-1095
Parent_URI URI (valid URL or URN according to RFC 3986) for the parent In COUNTER “Item Reports” the “Parent” is the publication an item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.is part of i.e. for a “Journal Article”, the “Parent” is the “Journal”; and for a “Book Chapter”, the “Parent” is the “Book”.item. IR
IR_A1
https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=wser20

Component Item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.Description and Identifiers

Repositories often store multiple components for a given repository A “Content Host” who provides access to an “Institution’s” research output.  Includes subject repositories, institution, department, etc.item. These components could take the form of multiple files or datasets, which can be identified and usage reported on separately in Item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.Master Reports. Note that the component usage may only be reported for Total_Item_Investigations and Total_Item_Request. For other Metric_Types the usage cannot be broken down by component and the corresponding cells MUST be empty.

Table 3.k (below): Elements that Describe a Component Item

Element Name Description Reports Examples
Component_Title Name or title of the component item. IR
Component_Authors Authors of the component item. See the Authors element in Table 3.i for the format. IR
Component_Publication_Date Date of publication for the component item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.in the format yyyy-mm-dd. IR
Component_Data_Type Data type of the component item. IR
Component_DOI DOI assigned to the component item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.in the format {DOI prefix}/{DOI suffix}. IR
Component_Proprietary_ID A proprietary ID assigned by the repository A “Content Host” who provides access to an “Institution’s” research output.  Includes subject repositories, institution, department, etc.to uniquely identify the component. Format as {namespace}:{value} where the namespace is the platform An interface from a “Content Provider” that delivers the content to the user A person who accesses the online resourceand that counts and provides the COUNTER usage reports.ID of the repository A “Content Host” who provides access to an “Institution’s” research output.  Includes subject repositories, institution, department, etc.which assigned the proprietary identifier. IR
Component_ISBN ISBN that is assigned to the component item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.in the format ISBN-13 with hyphens. IR
Component_Print_ISSN Print ISSN The International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is a unique 8-digit number used to identify a print or electronic periodical publication. Periodical published in both print and electronic form may have two ISSNs, a print ISSN and an electronic ISSN.that is assigned to the component item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.in the format nnnn-nnn[nX]. IR
Component_Online_ISSN Online ISSN The International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is a unique 8-digit number used to identify a print or electronic periodical publication. Periodical published in both print and electronic form may have two ISSNs, a print ISSN and an electronic ISSN.that is assigned to the component item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.in the format nnnn-nnn[nX]. IR
Component_URI URI (valid URL or URN according to RFC 3986) assigned to the component item. IR

Item and Report Attributes

Table 3.l (below): Elements for Item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.and Report Attributes

Element Name Description Reports Examples
Data_Type Nature of the content that was used.

See 3.3.2 for more detail.

PR, DR, TR, IR Book
Journal
Section_Type When content is accessed in chunks or sections, this attribute describes the nature of the content unit.

See 3.3.3 for more detail.

TR Article
Chapter
YOP Year of publication for the item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.being reported on.

See 3.3.7 for more detail.

TR, IR
TR_B1, TR_B2, TR_B3, TR_J4
1997
Access_Type See 3.3.5 for more detail. TR, IR
TR_B3, TR_J3, IR_A1
Controlled
OA_Gold
Access_Method See 3.3.6 for more detail. PR, DR, TR, IR Regular
TDM

Metric Type

Table 3.m (below): Report Element for Metric_Type

Element Name Description Reports Examples
Metric_Type The type of activity that is being counted.

See 3.3.4 for more detail.

All reports:
PR, DR, TR, IR
PR_P1, DR_D1, DR_D2, TR_B1, TR_B2, TR_B3, TR_J1, TR_J2, TR_J3, TR_J4, IR_A1, IR_M1
Total_Item_Investigations

Usage Data

Table 3.n (below): Elements for Usage Data

Element Name Description Reports Examples
Reporting_Period_Total Total of usage in this row for all months covered. Note that this element does NOT appear in the JSON reports, instead the JSON format offers a Granularity report attribute (see Section 3.3.8 for details). All reports:
PR, DR, TR, IR
PR_P1, DR_D1, DR_D2, TR_B1, TR_B2, TR_B3, TR_J1, TR_J2, TR_J3, TR_J4, IR_A1, IR_M1
123456
Mmm-yyyy A series of columns with usage for each month covered by the report. The format is Mmm-yyyy. Note: In the JSON format this is represented by Begin_Date and End_Date date elements for each month. All reports:
PR, DR, TR, IR
PR_P1, DR_D1, DR_D2, TR_B1, TR_B2, TR_B3, TR_J1, TR_J2, TR_J3, TR_J4, IR_A1, IR_M1
May-2016

3.3 COUNTER Report Common Attributes and Elements

Early releases of the COUNTER Code of Practice focused on usage statistics related to journals. That was expanded to books, and later articles and multimedia Non-textual media such as images, audio and video.collections were added. R5 further expands the scope of COUNTER into the area of research data Data that supports research findings and may include “Databases”, spreadsheets, tables, raw transaction logs, etc.and social media. In order to help organize this increased scope in a single, consistent, and coherent Code of Practice, several new elements and attributes have been added.

3.3.1 Host Types

Usage reports are provided by many different types of content hosts ranging from eBook Monographic content that is published online via the internet.to A&I_Database, eJournal, Discovery_Service, Multimedia etc. The usage reporting needs vary by Host_Type. To accommodate this variance, the R5 defines a set of Host_Type categories. Although the Host_Type does not appear on the COUNTER report, the Code of Practice uses Host_Types throughout this document to help content providers identify which reports, elements, metric types, and attributes are relevant to them. The Host_Types are:

Table 3.o (below): List of Host_Type Values

Host_Type Description Examples
A&I_Database Provides access to databases containing abstract A short summary of the content of an “Article” or “Content Item”. A detailed view of “Article” “Metadata” on an online host that includes the “Abstract” but does not include the full text of the item.  Accessing the “Abstract”/detailed view falls into the usage category of “investigation” (see “Investigation”).and index information on scholarly articles intended to support discovery. APA
EBSCOhost
ProQuest
Aggregated_Full_Content Provides access to aggregated pre-set databases of full text and other content where content is accessed in the context of the licensed database. EBSCOhost
ProQuest
Data_Repository Includes subject repositories, institution, etc. UK Data Service – ReShare
Figshare
DSpace
Eprints
Discovery_Service Assists users with discovery of scholarly content by providing access to a central index of articles, books, and other metadata. EBSCOhost (EDS)
ProQuest (Primo/Summon)
eBook Provides access to eBook Monographic content that is published online via the internet.content made available as individual eBooks or eBook Monographic content that is published online via the internet.packages. EBL
EBSCOhost
ScienceDirect
eBook_Collection Provides access to eBook Monographic content that is published online via the internet.content that is sold as fixed collections and behaves like databases. EBSCOhost
eJournal Provides access to online serial (journals, conferences, newspapers, etc.) content made available as individual titles or packages. ScienceDirect
Full_Content_Database Provides access to databases that are a collection A subset of the content of a service; a collection is a branded group of online information products from one or more content providers that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete group. For the COUNTER reporting is restricted to pre-set collections that are defined like “Databases”. See “Database”. Note a package or bundle provided by a publisher is not considered a “Database” or “Collection”.of content items that are not otherwise part of a serial A publication in any medium issued in successive parts bearing numerical or chronological designations and intended to be continued indefinitely. This definition includes periodicals, newspapers, and annuals (reports, yearbooks, monographic series). (NISO)or monograph (i.e. non-aggregated). Cochrane
Multimedia Provides access to audio, video, or other multimedia Non-textual media such as images, audio and video.content. Alexander Street Press
Multimedia_Collection Provides access to multimedia Non-textual media such as images, audio and video.materials sold as and accessed like databases.
Repository Provides access to an institution’s research output. Includes subject repositories, institution, department, etc. Cranfield CERES
Scholarly_Collaboration_Network A service A branded group of online information products from one or more vendors that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete service, or at a lower level (e.g. a collection)used by researchers to share information about their work. Mendeley
Reddit/science

Note that a given content host A website that provides access to content typically accessed by patrons of libraries and other research institutions.may be classified as having multiple Host_Types and would be expected to provide reports, metric types, elements, and attributes applicable to all. For example, EBSCOhost would be classified as A&I_Database, Aggregated_Full_Content, Discovery_Service, eBook, and eBook_Collection.

3.3.2 Data Types

R5 reports on scholarly information in many ways. These major groupings, referred to as Data_Types, are listed in the table below along with the Host_Types and reports that they apply to. All Data_Types apply to the Platform Reports A series of COUNTER reports that provide usage aggregated to the “Platform” level.since they summarize the usage on the platform. Note that the table lists only Host_Types required to provide one or more reports for compliance, but that content providers may offer additional reports. For example, Host_Type eJournal Serials content that is published online via the internet.might also offer IR and IR_A1 and would then use Data_Type A classification identifying one of various types of content.Article in these reports.

Table 3.p (below): List of Data_Type A classification identifying one of various types of content.Values

Data_Type Description Host_Types Reports
Article An article, typically published in a journal or reference work. Note that Data_Type A classification identifying one of various types of content.Article is only applicable for Item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.Reports when the article An item of original written work published in a “Journal”, other serial publication, or in a “Book”. An “Article” is complete, but usually cites other relevant published works in its list of “References”, if it has one. A COUNTER “Data_Type” used to identify and filter usage of content defined as “Articles”.is the item, in Title Reports this is represented by the Section_Type. Repository
Scholarly_Collaboration_Network
PR, IR
PR_P1, IR_A1
Book A monograph text. A&I_Database
Aggregated_Full_Content
Discovery_Service
eBook
eBook_Collection
Repository
Scholarly_Collaboration_Network
PR, DR, TR, IR
PR_P1, DR_D1, TR_B1, TR_B2, TR_B3
Book_Segment A 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. A COUNTER “Data_Type”.segment (e.g. chapter, section, etc.). Note that Data_Type A classification identifying one of various types of content.Book_Segment is only applicable for Item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.Reports when the book segment See “Section_Type”.is the item, in Title Reports this is represented by the Section_Type. Repository
Scholarly_Collaboration_Network
PR, IR
PR_P1
Database A fixed database where content is searched and accessed in the context of the database. A given item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.on the host may be in multiple databases but a transaction A usage event.must be attributed to a specific database. Note that Data_Type A classification identifying one of various types of content.Database is only applicable for Searches and Access Denied An attempt by a user A person who accesses the online resourceto access content that was denied because their institution lacked a proper license or simultaneous user A person who accesses the online resourcelimits specified in the license were exceeded.at the database level and for Investigations and Requests for Full_Content_Databases*. A&I_Database
Aggregated_Full_Content
Discovery_Service
eBook_Collection
Full_Content_Database
Multimedia_Collection
PR, DR
PR_P1, DR_D1, DR_D2
Dataset A data set. Data_Repository
Repository
PR, IR
PR_P1
Journal Textual content published serially as a journal or magazine. A&I_Database
Aggregated_Full_Content
Discovery_Service
eJournal
Repository
PR, DR, TR, IR
PR_P1, DR_D1, TR_J1, TR_J2, TR_J3, TR_J4
Multimedia Multimedia content such as audio, image, streaming audio, streaming video, and video. Multimedia
Multimedia_Collection
PR, DR, IR
PR_P1, DR_D1, IR_M1
Newspaper_or_Newsletter Textual content published serially in a newspaper or newsletter. A&I_Database
Aggregated_Full_Content
Discovery_Service
Repository
PR, DR, TR, IR
PR_P1, DR_D1
Other Content that cannot be classified by any of the other Data_Types. A&I_Database
Aggregated_Full_Content
Discovery_Service
Repository
PR, DR, TR, IR
PR_P1, DR_D1
Platform A content platform An interface from a “Content Provider” that delivers the content to the user A person who accesses the online resourceand that counts and provides the COUNTER usage reports.that may reflect usage from multiple Data_Types. Note that Data_Type Platform An interface from a “Content Provider” that delivers the content to the user A person who accesses the online resourceand that counts and provides the COUNTER usage reports.is only applicable for Searches_Platform. All Host_Types:
A&I_Database
Aggregated_Full_Content
Data_Repository
Discovery_Service
eBook
eBook_Collection
eJournal
Full_Content_Database
Multimedia
Multimedia_Collection
Repository
Scholarly_Collaboration_Network
PR
PR_P1
Report A report. A&I_Database
Aggregated_Full_Content
Discovery_Service
Repository
PR, DR, TR, IR
PR_P1, DR_D1
Repository_Item A generic classification used for items stored in a repository. Repository PR, IR
PR_P1
Thesis_or_Dissertation A thesis or dissertation. A&I_Database
Aggregated_Full_Content
Discovery_Service
Repository
PR, DR, TR, IR
PR_P1, DR_D1

*Full_Content_Databases may also use Data_Type A classification identifying one of various types of content.Database in the Master Title Report if this report is offered. All other Host_Types MUST report Investigations and Requests either with the title-level Data_Types (e.g. Journal for a journal article An item of original written work published in a “Journal”, other serial publication, or in a “Book”. An “Article” is complete, but usually cites other relevant published works in its list of “References”, if it has one. A COUNTER “Data_Type” used to identify and filter usage of content defined as “Articles”.or 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. A COUNTER “Data_Type”.for a book, from Host_Type A&I_Database, Aggregated_Full_Content, Discovery_Service, eBook, eBook_Collection and eJournal), or with the item-level Data_Types (e.g. Article for an article An item of original written work published in a “Journal”, other serial publication, or in a “Book”. An “Article” is complete, but usually cites other relevant published works in its list of “References”, if it has one. A COUNTER “Data_Type” used to identify and filter usage of content defined as “Articles”.or Multimedia Non-textual media such as images, audio and video.for a video from Host_Type Data_Repository, Multimedia, Multimedia_Collection, Repository and Scholarly_Collaboration_Network). These Data_Types MUST be used across all reports required for compliance to ensure a consistent reporting.

3.3.3 Section Types

Some scholarly content is accessed in sections. For example, a user A person who accesses the online resourcemay access a chapter A subdivision of a “Book” or of some categories of “Reference Work”; usually numbered and titled. A COUNTER “Section_Type”.or section at a time. Section_Type was introduced to provide a categorization of the transaction A usage event.based on the type of section accessed. For example, a librarian could use a Title Master Report Reports which contain additional filters and breakdowns beyond those included in the standard COUNTER reports, and are aggregated to publication “Title” level rather than towards individual “Articles”/”Chapters”.to see a breakdown of usage by Title and Section_Type. The following table lists the Section_Types defined by COUNTER and the Host_Types and reports to which they apply.

Table 3.q (below): List of Section_Type A COUNTER attribute that identifies the type of section that was accessed by the user.Values

Section_Type Description Host_Types Reports
Article An article An item of original written work published in a “Journal”, other serial publication, or in a “Book”. An “Article” is complete, but usually cites other relevant published works in its list of “References”, if it has one. A COUNTER “Data_Type” used to identify and filter usage of content defined as “Articles”.from a compilation, such as a journal, encyclopedia, or reference book. Aggregated_Full_Content
eJournal
TR
Book A complete book, accessed as a single file. Aggregated_Full_Content
eBook
eBook_Collection
TR
Chapter A chapter A subdivision of a “Book” or of some categories of “Reference Work”; usually numbered and titled. A COUNTER “Section_Type”.from a book. Aggregated_Full_Content
eBook
eBook_Collection
TR
Other Content delivered in sections not otherwise represented on the list. Aggregated_Full_Content TR
Section A group of chapters or articles. Aggregated_Full_Content
eBook
eBook_Collection
eJournal
TR

3.3.4 Metric Types

Metric_Types, which represent the nature of activity being counted, can be grouped into the categories of Searches, Investigations, Requests, and Access Denied. The Tables 3.r, 3.s and 3.t (below) list the Metric_Types and the Host_Types and reports they apply to.

Searches

Table 3.r (below): List of Metric_Types for Searches

Metric_Type Description Host_Types Reports
Searches_Regular Number of searches conducted against a user-selected database where results are returned to the user A person who accesses the online resourceon the host UI. The user A person who accesses the online resourceis responsible for selecting the databases or set of databases to be searched. This metric only applies to usage tracked at the database level and is not represented at the platform An interface from a “Content Provider” that delivers the content to the user A person who accesses the online resourceand that counts and provides the COUNTER usage reports.level. A&I_Database
Aggregated_Full_Content
Discovery_Service
eBook_Collection
Full_Content_Database
Multimedia_Collection
DR
DR_D1
Searches_Automated Searches conducted on the host site A website that provides access to content typically accessed by patrons of libraries and other research institutions.or discovery service An online information host that provides that capability for users to “Search” a wide variety of content from a single “Search” interface. Access to content is facilitated through direct access to content hosted on the site as well as through a variety of linking technologies to access content at other content sites.where results are returned in the host UI User interface that an end user A person who accesses the online resourcewould use to access content on the “Content Host”.and multiple databases are searched without user A person who accesses the online resourceselection of databases. This metric only applies to usage that is tracked at the database level and is not represented at the platform An interface from a “Content Provider” that delivers the content to the user A person who accesses the online resourceand that counts and provides the COUNTER usage reports.level. A&I_Database
Aggregated_Full_Content
Discovery_Service
eBook_Collection
Full_Content_Database
Multimedia_Collection
DR
DR_D1
Searches_Federated Searches conducted by a federated search A user-driven intellectual query, typically equated to submitting the “Search” form of the online service A branded group of online information products from one or more vendors that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete service, or at a lower level (e.g. a collection)to the server.engine where the search A user-driven intellectual query, typically equated to submitting the “Search” form of the online service A branded group of online information products from one or more vendors that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete service, or at a lower level (e.g. a collection)to the server.activity is conducted remotely via client-server technology. This metric only applies to usage that is tracked at the database level and is not represented at the platform An interface from a “Content Provider” that delivers the content to the user A person who accesses the online resourceand that counts and provides the COUNTER usage reports.level. A&I_Database
Aggregated_Full_Content
Discovery_Service
eBook_Collection
Full_Content_Database
Multimedia_Collection
DR
DR_D1
Searches_Platform Searches conducted by users and captured at the platform An interface from a “Content Provider” that delivers the content to the user A person who accesses the online resourceand that counts and provides the COUNTER usage reports.level. Each user-initiated search A user-driven intellectual query, typically equated to submitting the “Search” form of the online service A branded group of online information products from one or more vendors that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete service, or at a lower level (e.g. a collection)to the server.can only be counted once regardless of the number of databases involved in the search. This metric only applies to Platform An interface from a “Content Provider” that delivers the content to the user A person who accesses the online resourceand that counts and provides the COUNTER usage reports.Reports. All Host_Types:
A&I_Database
Aggregated_Full_Content
Data_Repository*
Discovery_Service
eBook
eBook_Collection
eJournal
Full_Content_Database
Multimedia
Multimedia_Collection
Repository*
Scholarly_Collaboration_Network
PR
PR_P1

*Repositories should provide these Metric_Types if they are able to.

Investigations and Requests of Items and Titles

This group of Metric_Types represents activities where content items were retrieved (Requests) or information about a content item (e.g. an abstract) was examined (Investigations). Any user A person who accesses the online resourceactivity that can be attributed to a content item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.will be considered an Investigation A category of COUNTER “Metric Type” that represent a user A person who accesses the online resourceaccessing information related to a “Content Item” (i.e. “Abstract” or detailed descriptive “Metadata” of an “Article”) or a “Content Item” itself (i.e. full text of an article).including downloading or viewing the item. Requests are limited to user A person who accesses the online resourceactivity related to retrieving or viewing the content item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.itself. The figure below provides a graphical representation of the relationship between Investigations and Requests.

Picture1

Figure 3e: The relationship between Investigations and Requests

Totals, Unique Items and Unique Titles

R5 also introduces the concept of unique items and unique titles. The Metric_Types that begin with Total are very similar to the metrics of R4, i.e. if a given article An item of original written work published in a “Journal”, other serial publication, or in a “Book”. An “Article” is complete, but usually cites other relevant published works in its list of “References”, if it has one. A COUNTER “Data_Type” used to identify and filter usage of content defined as “Articles”.or 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. A COUNTER “Data_Type”.or book chapter A subdivision of a “Book” or of some categories of “Reference Work”; usually numbered and titled. A COUNTER “Section_Type”.was accessed multiple times in a user A person who accesses the online resourcesession, the metric would increase by the number of times the content item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.was accessed (minus any adjustments for double-clicks).

Unique_Item metrics have been introduced in R5 to help eliminate the effect different styles of user A person who accesses the online resourceinterfaces may have on usage counts. With R5, if a single article An item of original written work published in a “Journal”, other serial publication, or in a “Book”. An “Article” is complete, but usually cites other relevant published works in its list of “References”, if it has one. A COUNTER “Data_Type” used to identify and filter usage of content defined as “Articles”.is accessed multiple times in a given user A person who accesses the online resourcesession, the corresponding Unique_Item metric can only increase by 1 to simply indicate that the content item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.was accessed in the session. Unique_Item metrics provide comparable usage across journal platforms by reducing the inflationary effect that occurs when an HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browsersfull text automatically displays and the user A person who accesses the online resourcethen accesses the PDF Portable Document Format, file formatted for the Adobe Acrobat reader. Items such as full-text articles or journals published in PDF format tend to replicate the printed page in appearanceversion.

Unique_Title metrics have been introduced in R5 to help normalize eBook Monographic content that is published online via the internet.metrics. Since eBooks can be downloaded as an entire 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. A COUNTER “Data_Type”.in a single PDF Portable Document Format, file formatted for the Adobe Acrobat reader. Items such as full-text articles or journals published in PDF format tend to replicate the printed page in appearanceor as separate chapters, the counts for R4’s BR1 (book downloads) and BR2 (section downloads) are not comparable. With R5, the book’s Unique_Title metrics are only increased by 1 no matter how many (or how many times) chapters or sections were accessed in a given user A person who accesses the online resourcesession. Unique_Title metrics provide comparable eBook Monographic content that is published online via the internet.metrics regardless of the nature of the platform An interface from a “Content Provider” that delivers the content to the user A person who accesses the online resourceand that counts and provides the COUNTER usage reports.and how eBook Monographic content that is published online via the internet.content was delivered.

The Unique_Title metrics MUST NOT be used for Data_Types other than 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. A COUNTER “Data_Type”.as they are not meaningful for them. If a 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. A COUNTER “Data_Type”.contains both OA_Gold A COUNTER “Access_Type”. 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.   Note that content items offered as Delayed “Open Access” (open after an embargo period) would be classified as “OA_Delayed”.and Controlled An “Access Type”. At the time of the transaction, the “Content Item” was not “Open Access” (i.e. behind a paywall) because access is restricted to authorized users. Access of content due to a trial subscription would be considered “Controlled” not “Other_Free_to_Read”.sections or sections with different YOPs, the usage must be broken down by Access_Type A COUNTER attribute used to report on the nature of access control restrictions, if any, placed on the content item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.at the time when the content item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.was accessed.and YOP Calendar year in which an “Article”, “Item”, “Issue” or volume Journals:  Numbered collection A subset of the content of a service; a collection is a branded group of online information products from one or more content providers that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete group. For the COUNTER reporting is restricted to pre-set collections that are defined like “Databases”. See “Database”. Note a package or bundle provided by a publisher is not considered a “Database” or “Collection”.of a minimum of one journal issue; in printed form, volumes of more than one issue A collection A subset of the content of a service; a collection is a branded group of online information products from one or more content providers that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete group. For the COUNTER reporting is restricted to pre-set collections that are defined like “Databases”. See “Database”. Note a package or bundle provided by a publisher is not considered a “Database” or “Collection”.of journal articles associated with each other via allocation of a specific issue number and presented as an identifiable unit online and/or as a physically bound and covered set of numbered pages in printare not normally bound together by the publisher, but are frequently bound together in hardback by the purchasing library to aid preservation of the printed product. Books: Numbered collection A subset of the content of a service; a collection is a branded group of online information products from one or more content providers that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete group. For the COUNTER reporting is restricted to pre-set collections that are defined like “Databases”. See “Database”. Note a package or bundle provided by a publisher is not considered a “Database” or “Collection”.of articles, chapters, or entries that is part of a larger, multi-volume work, either published together or seriallyis published. For the COUNTER “YOP” attribute, use the year of publication for the print when it differs from the online.so that the total counts are consistent between reports including and not including these columns/elements.

Table 3.s (below): List of Metric_Types for Requests and Investigations

Metric_Type Description Host_Types Reports
Total_Item_Investigations Total number of times a content item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.or information related to a content item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.was accessed. Double-click filters Limits or restrictions placed on the usage to be included in a COUNTER report usually expressed as a name-value pair, i.e. “Access_Type=Controlled”are applied to these transactions. Examples of content items are articles, book chapters, or multimedia Non-textual media such as images, audio and video.files. All Host_Types:
A&I_Database
Aggregated_Full_Content
Data_Repository*
Discovery_Service
eBook
eBook_Collection
eJournal
Full_Content_Database
Multimedia
Multimedia_Collection
Repository*
Scholarly_Collaboration_Network
PR, DR, TR, IR
DR_D1, TR_B3, TR_J3
Unique_Item_Investigations Number of unique content items investigated in a user-session. Examples of content items are articles, book chapters, or multimedia Non-textual media such as images, audio and video.files. All Host_Types:
A&I_Database
Aggregated_Full_Content
Data_Repository*
Discovery_Service
eBook
eBook_Collection
eJournal
Full_Content_Database
Multimedia
Multimedia_Collection
Repository*
Scholarly_Collaboration_Network
PR, DR, TR, IR
TR_B3, TR_J3
Unique_Title_Investigations Number of unique titles investigated in a user-session. Examples of titles are  books. A&I_Database
Aggregated_Full_Content
Discovery_Service
eBook
eBook_Collection
PR, DR, TR
TR_B3
Total_Item_Requests Total number of times a content item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.was requested (i.e. the full text or content was downloaded or viewed). Double-click filters Limits or restrictions placed on the usage to be included in a COUNTER report usually expressed as a name-value pair, i.e. “Access_Type=Controlled”are applied to these transactions. Examples of content items are articles, book chapters, or multimedia Non-textual media such as images, audio and video.files. Aggregated_Full_Content
Data_Repository
eBook
eBook_Collection
eJournal
Full_Content_Database
Multimedia
Multimedia_Collection
Repository
Scholarly_Collaboration_Network
PR, DR, TR, IR
PR_P1, DR_D1, TR_B1, TR_B3, TR_J1, TR_J3, TR_J4, IR_A1, IR_M1
Unique_Item_Requests Number of unique content items requested in a user-session. Examples of content items are articles, book chapters, or multimedia Non-textual media such as images, audio and video.files. Aggregated_Full_Content
Data_Repository
eBook
eBook_Collection
eJournal
Full_Content_Database
Multimedia
Multimedia_Collection
Repository
Scholarly_Collaboration_Network
PR, DR, TR, IR
PR_P1, TR_B3, TR_J1, TR_J3, TR_J4, IR_A1
Unique_Title_Requests Number of unique titles requested in a user-session. Examples of titles are  books. Aggregated_Full_Content
eBook
eBook_Collection
PR, DR, TR
PR_P1, TR_B1, TR_B3

*Repositories should provide these Metric_Types if they are able to.

Access Denied

Table 3.t (below): List of Metric_Types for Access Denied

Metric_Type Description Host_Types Reports
No_License Number of times access was denied because the user’s institution The organization for which usage is being reported.did not have a license A contract or agreement that provides an organization or individual (licensee) with the right to access certain content.to the content. Double-click filtering applies to this Metric_Type.

Note that if the user A person who accesses the online resourceis automatically redirected to an abstract, that action will be counted as a No_License A COUNTER “Metric Type”.  User is denied access to a content item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.because the user A person who accesses the online resourceor the user’s institution The organization for which usage is being reported.does not have access rights under an agreement with the content provider.and also as an Item_Investigation.

A&I_Database
Aggregated_Full_Content
Discovery_Service
eBook
eBook_Collection
eJournal
Full_Content_Database
Multimedia
Multimedia_Collection
Scholarly_Collaboration_Network
DR, TR, IR
DR_D2, TR_B2, TR_J2
Limit_Exceeded Number of times access was denied because the licensed simultaneous-user limit for the user’s institution The organization for which usage is being reported.was exceeded. Double-click filtering applies to this Metric_Type. A&I_Database
Aggregated_Full_Content
Discovery_Service
eBook
eBook_Collection
eJournal
Full_Content_Database
Multimedia
Multimedia_Collection
Scholarly_Collaboration_Network
DR, TR, IR
DR_D2, TR_B2, TR_J2

3.3.5 Access Types

In order to track the value of usage for licensed content, librarians want to know how much 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 A contract or agreement that provides an organization or individual (licensee) with the right to access certain content.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. [wikipedia]or other freely available content was used and how much content was behind a paywall. To accommodate this R5 has introduced an Access_Type A COUNTER attribute used to report on the nature of access control restrictions, if any, placed on the content item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.at the time when the content item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.was accessed.attribute with values of Controlled, OA_Gold, OA_Delayed, and Other_Free_To_Read. The table below lists the Access_Types and the Host_Types and reports they apply to. Note that Access_Type A COUNTER attribute used to report on the nature of access control restrictions, if any, placed on the content item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.at the time when the content item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.was accessed.relates to access on the platform An interface from a “Content Provider” that delivers the content to the user A person who accesses the online resourceand that counts and provides the COUNTER usage reports.where the usage occurs: if access to a Gold 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 A contract or agreement that provides an organization or individual (licensee) with the right to access certain content.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. [wikipedia]article is restricted on a platform (for example because the article An item of original written work published in a “Journal”, other serial publication, or in a “Book”. An “Article” is complete, but usually cites other relevant published works in its list of “References”, if it has one. A COUNTER “Data_Type” used to identify and filter usage of content defined as “Articles”.is included in an aggregated full-text database available to subscribers only) the Access_Type A COUNTER attribute used to report on the nature of access control restrictions, if any, placed on the content item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.at the time when the content item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.was accessed.is Controlled.

Table 3.u (below): List of Access_Type A COUNTER attribute used to report on the nature of access control restrictions, if any, placed on the content item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.at the time when the content item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.was accessed.Values

Access_Type Description Host_Types Reports
Controlled At the time of the Request A category of COUNTER “Metric Type” that represent a user A person who accesses the online resourceaccessing content (i.e. full text of an “Article”)or Investigation A category of COUNTER “Metric Type” that represent a user A person who accesses the online resourceaccessing information related to a “Content Item” (i.e. “Abstract” or detailed descriptive “Metadata” of an “Article”) or a “Content Item” itself (i.e. full text of an article).the content item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.was not open (e.g. behind a paywall) because access is restricted to authorized users. Access of content due to a trial subscription/license would be considered Controlled.

Platforms providing content that has been made freely available but is not OA_Gold (e.g. free for marketing purposes or because the title offers free access after a year) MUST be tracked as Controlled.

Aggregated_Full_Content
Data_Repository
eBook
eBook_Collection
eJournal
Multimedia
Repository
Scholarly_Collaboration_Network
TR, IR
TR_B1, TR_B2, TR_B3, TR_J1, TR_J2, TR_J3, TR_J4, IR_A1, IR_M1
OA_Gold At the time of the user Request A category of COUNTER “Metric Type” that represent a user A person who accesses the online resourceaccessing content (i.e. full text of an “Article”)or Investigation A category of COUNTER “Metric Type” that represent a user A person who accesses the online resourceaccessing information related to a “Content Item” (i.e. “Abstract” or detailed descriptive “Metadata” of an “Article”) or a “Content Item” itself (i.e. full text of an article).the content item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.was available under a Gold 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 A contract or agreement that provides an organization or individual (licensee) with the right to access certain content.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. [wikipedia]license (content that is immediately and permanently available as 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 A contract or agreement that provides an organization or individual (licensee) with the right to access certain content.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. [wikipedia]because an article An item of original written work published in a “Journal”, other serial publication, or in a “Book”. An “Article” is complete, but usually cites other relevant published works in its list of “References”, if it has one. A COUNTER “Data_Type” used to identify and filter usage of content defined as “Articles”.processing charge applies or the publication process was sponsored by a library, society, or other organization). Content items may be in hybrid publications or fully 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 A contract or agreement that provides an organization or individual (licensee) with the right to access certain content.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. [wikipedia]publications.

Note that content items offered as Delayed Open Access (open after an embargo period) MUST currently be classified as Controlled, pending the implementation of OA_Delayed.

Data_Repository
eBook
eJournal
Multimedia
Repository
Scholarly_Collaboration_Network
TR, IR
TR_B3, TR_J3, IR_A1, IR_M1
OA_Delayed *** RESERVED FOR FUTURE USE – DO NOT IMPLEMENT ***

At the time of the user Request A category of COUNTER “Metric Type” that represent a user A person who accesses the online resourceaccessing content (i.e. full text of an “Article”)or Investigation A category of COUNTER “Metric Type” that represent a user A person who accesses the online resourceaccessing information related to a “Content Item” (i.e. “Abstract” or detailed descriptive “Metadata” of an “Article”) or a “Content Item” itself (i.e. full text of an article).the content item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.was available as 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 A contract or agreement that provides an organization or individual (licensee) with the right to access certain content.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. [wikipedia]after an embargo period The period of time before an “Article” is moved out from behind the paywall, i.e. from “CONTROLLED” to “OA_DELAYED”had expired (Delayed Open Access). Note that author-archived works hosted in institutional repositories where access is restricted from public access for an embargo period The period of time before an “Article” is moved out from behind the paywall, i.e. from “CONTROLLED” to “OA_DELAYED”will report usage as OA_Delayed A COUNTER “Access_Type”. At the time of the transaction, the content item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.was available as “Open Access” because the “Content Provider’s” embargo period is expired (“Delayed Open Access”).for content accessed after the embargo period The period of time before an “Article” is moved out from behind the paywall, i.e. from “CONTROLLED” to “OA_DELAYED”expires.

NOTE: This value is not to be used until its inclusion has been approved by COUNTER and a timeframe for implementation published by COUNTER.

Other_Free_To_Read At the time of the transaction A usage event.the content item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.was available as free-to-read (no license A contract or agreement that provides an organization or individual (licensee) with the right to access certain content.required) and did not qualify under the OA_Gold A COUNTER “Access_Type”. 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.   Note that content items offered as Delayed “Open Access” (open after an embargo period) would be classified as “OA_Delayed”.Access_Type.

NOTE: This value is for institutional repositories only.

Data_Repository
Repository
IR
IR_A1

3.3.6 Access Methods

In order to track content usage that was accessed for the purpose of text and data mining (TDM) and to keep that usage separate from normal usage, R5 introduces the Access_Method A COUNTER attribute indicating whether the usage related to an “Investigation” or a “Request” was generated by a human user A person who accesses the online resourcebrowsing and searching a website (“Regular”) or by “Text and Data Mining” processes (“TDM”).attribute, with values of Regular A COUNTER “Access_Method”. Indicates that usage was generated by a human user A person who accesses the online resourcebrowsing/searching a website, rather than by “Text and Data Mining” (“TDM”) processes.and TDM. The table below lists the Access_Methods and the Host_Types and reports they apply to.

Table 3.v (below): List of Access_Method A COUNTER attribute indicating whether the usage related to an “Investigation” or a “Request” was generated by a human user A person who accesses the online resourcebrowsing and searching a website (“Regular”) or by “Text and Data Mining” processes (“TDM”).Values

Access_Method Description Host_Types Reports
Regular Refers to activities on a platform An interface from a “Content Provider” that delivers the content to the user A person who accesses the online resourceand that counts and provides the COUNTER usage reports.or content host A website that provides access to content typically accessed by patrons of libraries and other research institutions.that represent typical user A person who accesses the online resourcebehaviour. All Host_Types:
A&I_Database
Aggregated_Full_Content
Data_Repository
Discovery_Service
eBook
eBook_Collection
eJournal
Full_Content_Database
Multimedia
Multimedia_Collection
Repository
Scholarly_Collaboration_Network
All reports:
PR, DR, TR, IR
PR_P1, DR_D1, DR_D2, TR_B1, TR_B2, TR_B3, TR_J1, TR_J2, TR_J3, TR_J4, IR_A1, IR_M1
TDM Content and metadata A series of textual elements that describe a “Content Item” but does not include the “Item” itself.  For example, “Metadata” for a “Journal Article” would, typically include:  “Publisher”; “Journal” title, volume, issue and page numbers; copyright information; list of names and affiliations of the “Authors”; “Author” organization addresses; “Article title” and “Abstract” of the “Article”; and keywords or other subject classifications.accessed for the purpose of text and data mining, e.g. through a specific API used for TDM. Note that usage representing TDM “Text and Data Mining” (“TDM”) is a computational process whereby text or datasets are crawled by software that recognizes entities, relationships and actions. (STM Publishers) An “Access_Method” in a COUNTER report used to separate regular A COUNTER “Access_Method”. Indicates that usage was generated by a human user A person who accesses the online resourcebrowsing/searching a website, rather than by “Text and Data Mining” (“TDM”) processes.usage from usage that represents access to content for the purposes of “Text and Data Mining”.activity is to be included in Master Reports Reports which contain additional filters and breakdowns beyond those included in the standard COUNTER reports.only. All Host_Types:
A&I_Database
Aggregated_Full_Content
Data_Repository
Discovery_Service
eBook
eBook_Collection
eJournal
Full_Content_Database
Multimedia
Multimedia_Collection
Repository
Scholarly_Collaboration_Network
PR, DR, TR, IR

3.3.7 YOP

Analyzing collection A subset of the content of a service; a collection is a branded group of online information products from one or more content providers that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete group. For the COUNTER reporting is restricted to pre-set collections that are defined like “Databases”. See “Database”. Note a package or bundle provided by a publisher is not considered a “Database” or “Collection”.usage by the age of the content is also desired. The YOP Calendar year in which an “Article”, “Item”, “Issue” or volume Journals:  Numbered collection A subset of the content of a service; a collection is a branded group of online information products from one or more content providers that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete group. For the COUNTER reporting is restricted to pre-set collections that are defined like “Databases”. See “Database”. Note a package or bundle provided by a publisher is not considered a “Database” or “Collection”.of a minimum of one journal issue; in printed form, volumes of more than one issue A collection A subset of the content of a service; a collection is a branded group of online information products from one or more content providers that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete group. For the COUNTER reporting is restricted to pre-set collections that are defined like “Databases”. See “Database”. Note a package or bundle provided by a publisher is not considered a “Database” or “Collection”.of journal articles associated with each other via allocation of a specific issue number and presented as an identifiable unit online and/or as a physically bound and covered set of numbered pages in printare not normally bound together by the publisher, but are frequently bound together in hardback by the purchasing library to aid preservation of the printed product. Books: Numbered collection A subset of the content of a service; a collection is a branded group of online information products from one or more content providers that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete group. For the COUNTER reporting is restricted to pre-set collections that are defined like “Databases”. See “Database”. Note a package or bundle provided by a publisher is not considered a “Database” or “Collection”.of articles, chapters, or entries that is part of a larger, multi-volume work, either published together or seriallyis published. For the COUNTER “YOP” attribute, use the year of publication for the print when it differs from the online.usage attribute represents the year of publication, and it must be tracked for all Investigations, Requests and Access Denied An attempt by a user A person who accesses the online resourceto access content that was denied because their institution lacked a proper license or simultaneous user A person who accesses the online resourcelimits specified in the license were exceeded.metrics in the Title and Item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.Reports. The table below lists the Host_Types and reports the YOP Calendar year in which an “Article”, “Item”, “Issue” or volume Journals:  Numbered collection A subset of the content of a service; a collection is a branded group of online information products from one or more content providers that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete group. For the COUNTER reporting is restricted to pre-set collections that are defined like “Databases”. See “Database”. Note a package or bundle provided by a publisher is not considered a “Database” or “Collection”.of a minimum of one journal issue; in printed form, volumes of more than one issue A collection A subset of the content of a service; a collection is a branded group of online information products from one or more content providers that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete group. For the COUNTER reporting is restricted to pre-set collections that are defined like “Databases”. See “Database”. Note a package or bundle provided by a publisher is not considered a “Database” or “Collection”.of journal articles associated with each other via allocation of a specific issue number and presented as an identifiable unit online and/or as a physically bound and covered set of numbered pages in printare not normally bound together by the publisher, but are frequently bound together in hardback by the purchasing library to aid preservation of the printed product. Books: Numbered collection A subset of the content of a service; a collection is a branded group of online information products from one or more content providers that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete group. For the COUNTER reporting is restricted to pre-set collections that are defined like “Databases”. See “Database”. Note a package or bundle provided by a publisher is not considered a “Database” or “Collection”.of articles, chapters, or entries that is part of a larger, multi-volume work, either published together or seriallyis published. For the COUNTER “YOP” attribute, use the year of publication for the print when it differs from the online.attribute applies to.

Table 3.w (below): YOP Values

YOP Description Host_Types Reports
yyyy The year of publication Calendar year in which an “Article”, “Item”, “Issue” or volume Journals:  Numbered collection A subset of the content of a service; a collection is a branded group of online information products from one or more content providers that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete group. For the COUNTER reporting is restricted to pre-set collections that are defined like “Databases”. See “Database”. Note a package or bundle provided by a publisher is not considered a “Database” or “Collection”.of a minimum of one journal issue; in printed form, volumes of more than one issue A collection A subset of the content of a service; a collection is a branded group of online information products from one or more content providers that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete group. For the COUNTER reporting is restricted to pre-set collections that are defined like “Databases”. See “Database”. Note a package or bundle provided by a publisher is not considered a “Database” or “Collection”.of journal articles associated with each other via allocation of a specific issue number and presented as an identifiable unit online and/or as a physically bound and covered set of numbered pages in printare not normally bound together by the publisher, but are frequently bound together in hardback by the purchasing library to aid preservation of the printed product. Books: Numbered collection A subset of the content of a service; a collection is a branded group of online information products from one or more content providers that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete group. For the COUNTER reporting is restricted to pre-set collections that are defined like “Databases”. See “Database”. Note a package or bundle provided by a publisher is not considered a “Database” or “Collection”.of articles, chapters, or entries that is part of a larger, multi-volume work, either published together or seriallyis published. For the COUNTER “YOP” attribute, use the year of publication for the print when it differs from the online.for the item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.as a four-digit year. If a content item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.has a different year of publication Calendar year in which an “Article”, “Item”, “Issue” or volume Journals:  Numbered collection A subset of the content of a service; a collection is a branded group of online information products from one or more content providers that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete group. For the COUNTER reporting is restricted to pre-set collections that are defined like “Databases”. See “Database”. Note a package or bundle provided by a publisher is not considered a “Database” or “Collection”.of a minimum of one journal issue; in printed form, volumes of more than one issue A collection A subset of the content of a service; a collection is a branded group of online information products from one or more content providers that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete group. For the COUNTER reporting is restricted to pre-set collections that are defined like “Databases”. See “Database”. Note a package or bundle provided by a publisher is not considered a “Database” or “Collection”.of journal articles associated with each other via allocation of a specific issue number and presented as an identifiable unit online and/or as a physically bound and covered set of numbered pages in printare not normally bound together by the publisher, but are frequently bound together in hardback by the purchasing library to aid preservation of the printed product. Books: Numbered collection A subset of the content of a service; a collection is a branded group of online information products from one or more content providers that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete group. For the COUNTER reporting is restricted to pre-set collections that are defined like “Databases”. See “Database”. Note a package or bundle provided by a publisher is not considered a “Database” or “Collection”.of articles, chapters, or entries that is part of a larger, multi-volume work, either published together or seriallyis published. For the COUNTER “YOP” attribute, use the year of publication for the print when it differs from the online.for an online version than the print, use the year of publication Calendar year in which an “Article”, “Item”, “Issue” or volume Journals:  Numbered collection A subset of the content of a service; a collection is a branded group of online information products from one or more content providers that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete group. For the COUNTER reporting is restricted to pre-set collections that are defined like “Databases”. See “Database”. Note a package or bundle provided by a publisher is not considered a “Database” or “Collection”.of a minimum of one journal issue; in printed form, volumes of more than one issue A collection A subset of the content of a service; a collection is a branded group of online information products from one or more content providers that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete group. For the COUNTER reporting is restricted to pre-set collections that are defined like “Databases”. See “Database”. Note a package or bundle provided by a publisher is not considered a “Database” or “Collection”.of journal articles associated with each other via allocation of a specific issue number and presented as an identifiable unit online and/or as a physically bound and covered set of numbered pages in printare not normally bound together by the publisher, but are frequently bound together in hardback by the purchasing library to aid preservation of the printed product. Books: Numbered collection A subset of the content of a service; a collection is a branded group of online information products from one or more content providers that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete group. For the COUNTER reporting is restricted to pre-set collections that are defined like “Databases”. See “Database”. Note a package or bundle provided by a publisher is not considered a “Database” or “Collection”.of articles, chapters, or entries that is part of a larger, multi-volume work, either published together or seriallyis published. For the COUNTER “YOP” attribute, use the year of publication for the print when it differs from the online.for the Version of Record. If the year of publication Calendar year in which an “Article”, “Item”, “Issue” or volume Journals:  Numbered collection A subset of the content of a service; a collection is a branded group of online information products from one or more content providers that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete group. For the COUNTER reporting is restricted to pre-set collections that are defined like “Databases”. See “Database”. Note a package or bundle provided by a publisher is not considered a “Database” or “Collection”.of a minimum of one journal issue; in printed form, volumes of more than one issue A collection A subset of the content of a service; a collection is a branded group of online information products from one or more content providers that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete group. For the COUNTER reporting is restricted to pre-set collections that are defined like “Databases”. See “Database”. Note a package or bundle provided by a publisher is not considered a “Database” or “Collection”.of journal articles associated with each other via allocation of a specific issue number and presented as an identifiable unit online and/or as a physically bound and covered set of numbered pages in printare not normally bound together by the publisher, but are frequently bound together in hardback by the purchasing library to aid preservation of the printed product. Books: Numbered collection A subset of the content of a service; a collection is a branded group of online information products from one or more content providers that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete group. For the COUNTER reporting is restricted to pre-set collections that are defined like “Databases”. See “Database”. Note a package or bundle provided by a publisher is not considered a “Database” or “Collection”.of articles, chapters, or entries that is part of a larger, multi-volume work, either published together or seriallyis published. For the COUNTER “YOP” attribute, use the year of publication for the print when it differs from the online.is not known, use a value of 0001. For articles-in-press (not yet assigned to an issue), use the value 9999. Aggregated_Full_Content
Data_Repository
eBook
eBook_Collection
eJournal
Multimedia
Repository
Scholarly_Collaboration_Network
TR, IR
TR_B1, TR_B2, TR_B3, TR_J1, TR_J2, TR_J3, TR_J4, IR_A1, IR_M1

3.3.8 Report Filters Limits or restrictions placed on the usage to be included in a COUNTER report usually expressed as a name-value pair, i.e. “Access_Type=Controlled”and Report Attributes

Customized views of the usage data are created by applying report filters Limits or restrictions placed on the usage to be included in a COUNTER report usually expressed as a name-value pair, i.e. “Access_Type=Controlled”and report attributes to the Master Reports. The Standard Views specified by R5 are examples of such views. Report attributes define the columns (elements) and report filters Limits or restrictions placed on the usage to be included in a COUNTER report usually expressed as a name-value pair, i.e. “Access_Type=Controlled”the rows (values) included in the reports. For Master Reports Reports which contain additional filters and breakdowns beyond those included in the standard COUNTER reports.the user A person who accesses the online resourcecan choose from specific sets of filters Limits or restrictions placed on the usage to be included in a COUNTER report usually expressed as a name-value pair, i.e. “Access_Type=Controlled”and attributes depending on the report, while for Standard Views the filters Limits or restrictions placed on the usage to be included in a COUNTER report usually expressed as a name-value pair, i.e. “Access_Type=Controlled”and attributes are pre-set except for an optional Platform An interface from a “Content Provider” that delivers the content to the user A person who accesses the online resourceand that counts and provides the COUNTER usage reports.filter.

The filters Limits or restrictions placed on the usage to be included in a COUNTER report usually expressed as a name-value pair, i.e. “Access_Type=Controlled”and attributes used to create a report are included in the report header (unless the default value is used, in this case the filter/attribute MUST be omitted), for JSON reports as name/value pairs in the Report_Filters and Report_Attributes In COUNTER Reports the “Report Attributes” can be used to modify how a report should be presented.  Typically, a “Report Attribute” will not limit or filter the usage being presented.elements and for tabular reports encoded in the Metric_Types, Reporting_Period, Report_Filters and Report_Attributes In COUNTER Reports the “Report Attributes” can be used to modify how a report should be presented.  Typically, a “Report Attribute” will not limit or filter the usage being presented.elements (see section 3.2.1 for the encoding). For the COUNTER_SUSHI API each filter/attribute corresponds to a method parameter with the same name in lower case (see the COUNTER_SUSHI API Specification for details).

The tables below show the attributes and filters Limits or restrictions placed on the usage to be included in a COUNTER report usually expressed as a name-value pair, i.e. “Access_Type=Controlled”and the reports where they (might) appear in the header (excluding Standard Views using the default values).

Table 3.x (below): Report Attributes

Report Attribute Description Reports
Attributes_To_Show List of optional columns/elements to include in the report (default: none). See sections 4.1.2, 4.2.2, 4.3.2 and 4.4.2 for permissible values. Note that the component and parent In COUNTER “Item Reports” the “Parent” is the publication an item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.is part of i.e. for a “Journal Article”, the “Parent” is the “Journal”; and for a “Book Chapter”, the “Parent” is the “Book”.columns/elements cannot be selected individually and MUST NOT be included in the list (see the Include_Component_Details and Include_Parent_Details attributes below). PR, DR, TR, IR
Exclude_Monthly_Details Specifies whether to exclude the columns with the monthly usage from the report. Permissible values are False (default) and True. This attribute is only applicable for tabular reports. The corresponding attribute for JSON reports is Granularity. PR, DR, TR, IR
(tabular)
Granularity Specifies the granularity of the usage data to include in the report. Permissible values are Month (default) and Totals. This attribute is only applicable to JSON reports, the corresponding attribute for tabular reports is Exclude_Monthly_Details.

For Totals each Item_Performance element represents the aggregated usage for the reporting period. Support for Month is REQUIRED for COUNTER compliance, support for Totals is optional.

PR, DR, TR, IR
(JSON)
Include_Component_Details Specifies whether to include the component columns/elements (see table 3.k) in the report. Permissible values are False (default) and True. IR
Include_Parent_Details Specifies whether to include the parent In COUNTER “Item Reports” the “Parent” is the publication an item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.is part of i.e. for a “Journal Article”, the “Parent” is the “Journal”; and for a “Book Chapter”, the “Parent” is the “Book”.columns/elements (see table 3.j) in the report. Permissible values are False (default) and True. IR

Table 3.y (below): Report Filters

Report Filter Description Reports
Access_Method List of Access_Methods for which to include usage (default: all). See sections 4.1.3, 4.2.3, 4.3.3 and 4.4.3 for permissible/pre-set values. All reports:
PR, DR, TR, IR
PR_P1, DR_D1, DR_D2, TR_B1, TR_B2, TR_B3, TR_J1, TR_J2, TR_J3, TR_J4, IR_A1, IR_M1
Access_Type List of Access_Types for which to include usage (default: all). See sections 4.3.3 and 4.4.3 for permissible/pre-set values. TR, IR
TR_B1, TR_B2, TR_J1, TR_J2, TR_J4, IR_A1
Begin_Date
End_Date
Beginning and end of the reporting period. Note that the COUNTER_SUSHI API allows the format yyyy-mm for the method parameters, which must be expanded with the first/last day of the month for the report header. For the tabular reports these filters Limits or restrictions placed on the usage to be included in a COUNTER report usually expressed as a name-value pair, i.e. “Access_Type=Controlled”are included in the Reporting_Period The total time period covered in a usage report.header instead of the Reporting_Filters header for easier reading. All reports:
PR, DR, TR, IR
PR_P1, DR_D1, DR_D2, TR_B1, TR_B2, TR_B3, TR_J1, TR_J2, TR_J3, TR_J4, IR_A1, IR_M1
Database Name of a specific database for which usage is being requested (default: all). Support for this filter is optional but recommended for the reporting website. DR
Data_Type List of Data_Types for which to include usage (default: all). See sections 4.1.3, 4.2.3, 4.3.3 and 4.4.3 for permissible/pre-set values. PR, DR, TR, IR
TR_B1, TR_B2, TR_B3, TR_J1, TR_J2, TR_J3, TR_J4, IR_A1, IR_M1
Item_Contributor Identifier of a specific contributor (author) for which usage is being requested (default: all). Support for this filter is optional but recommended for the reporting website. IR
Item_ID Identifier of a specific item Collective term for content which is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. “Full Text Article” (original or a review of other published work); an “Abstract” or digest of a “Full Text Article”; a sectional HTML Article formatted in HTML so as to be readable by a web browser Hypertext Markup Language. A form of text markup readable by web browserspage; supplementary material associated with a “Full Text Article” (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources, such as an image, a video, audio, dataset, piece of code, chemical structure or reaction.for which usage is being requested. Support for this filter is optional but recommended for the reporting website. TR, IR
Metric_Type List of Metric_Types for which to include usage (default: all). See sections 4.1.3, 4.2.3, 4.3.3 and 4.4.3 for permissible/pre-set values. For the tabular reports this filter is included in the Metric_Types header instead of the Reporting_Filters header for easier reading. All reports:
PR, DR, TR, IR
PR_P1, DR_D1, DR_D2, TR_B1, TR_B2, TR_B3, TR_J1, TR_J2, TR_J3, TR_J4, IR_A1, IR_M1
Platform The Platform An interface from a “Content Provider” that delivers the content to the user A person who accesses the online resourceand that counts and provides the COUNTER usage reports.filter is only intended in cases where there is a single endpoint for multiple platforms; that is, the same base URL for the COUNTER_SUSHI API is used for multiple platforms and the platform An interface from a “Content Provider” that delivers the content to the user A person who accesses the online resourceand that counts and provides the COUNTER usage reports.parameter is required for all API calls. In the web interface this would correspond to first selecting one platform An interface from a “Content Provider” that delivers the content to the user A person who accesses the online resourceand that counts and provides the COUNTER usage reports.and then creating reports only for that platform. All reports:
PR, DR, TR, IR
PR_P1, DR_D1, DR_D2, TR_B1, TR_B2, TR_B3, TR_J1, TR_J2, TR_J3, TR_J4, IR_A1, IR_M1
Section_Type List of Section_Types for which to include usage (default: all). See section 4.3.3 for permissible values. TR
YOP Range of years of publication for which to include usage (default: all). For the COUNTER_SUSHI API more complex filter values (list of years and ranges) MUST be supported. TR, IR

3.3.9 Zero Usage

Not all content providers or other COUNTER report providers link their COUNTER reporting tool to their subscription database, so R5 reports cannot include zero-usage reporting based on subscription records. Inclusion of zero-usage reporting for everything, including unsubscribed content, could make reports unmanageably large. The need for libraries to identify subscribed titles with zero usage will be addressed by the KBART Automation Working Group initiative.

  • For tabular reports
    • Omit any row where the Reporting_Period_Total would be zero.
    • If the Reporting_Period_Total is not zero, but usage for an included month is zero, set the cell value for that month to 0.
  • For JSON reports
    • Omit any Instance element with a Count of zero.
    • Omit Performance elements that don’t have at least one Instance element.
    • Omit Report_Items elements that don’t have at least one Performance element.

3.3.10 Missing and Unknown Field Values

  • For tabular reports
    • If a field value is missing or unknown (e.g. the ISBN The International Standard 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. A COUNTER “Data_Type”.Number (ISBN) is a unique 13-digit number used to identify a “Book”.for a title doesn’t exist or isn’t known), the field MUST be left blank. For clarity, the field MUST NOT contain values such as “unknown” or “n/a”.
  • For JSON reports
    • If the value of a field is missing or unknown and the COUNTER_SUSHI API Specification (see Section 8 below) indicates the field is REQUIRED, the value of the field MUST be expressed as empty as appropriate for the data type.
    • If the value of a field is missing or unknown and the field is not REQUIRED according to the COUNTER_SUSHI API Specification, the field MUST be omitted from the response.

How to become Counter Compliant

All academic libraries across the world use and trust COUNTER usage reports to inform renewal and new purchasing decisions, to inform faculty about the value of the library and its resources and to understand user behaviour and improve the user experience.

Counter will help publishers and vendors to become compliant. Please read our guide to becoming compliant.

Audit Process

To comply with the Code of Practice, publishers and vendors must be independently audited within six months of signing the Declaration of COUNTER Compliance, and annually thereafter.

There are three approved COUNTER auditors:

COUNTER will also accept an audit by any Chartered Accountant (UK), CPA (USA) or their equivalent elsewhere.

 
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