The COUNTER Code of Practice for Release 4

Auditing

An important feature of the COUNTER Code of Practice is that compliant vendors must be independently audited on a 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.basis in order to maintain their COUNTER compliant status. To facilitate this, a set of detailed auditing standards and procedures has been published in Appendix E of this Code of Practice. In developing these COUNTER has tried to meet the need of customers for credible usage statistics without placing an undue administrative or financial burden on vendors. For this reason audits will be conducted online using the detailed test scripts included in the auditing standards and procedures.
The independent audit is required within 6 months of vendors first achieving compliance with the COUNTER Code of Practice for e-Resources, and annually thereafter. COUNTER will recognize an audit carried out by any CPA (Certified Public Accountant) (USA), by any CA (Chartered Accountant) (UK), or by their equivalent in other countries. Alternatively, the audit may be done by another, COUNTER-approved auditor, such as ABC, which is not a CA or a CPA.

6.1 The Audit Process

1. COUNTER compliant vendors will be notified in writing by COUNTER that an audit is required at least 3 months before the audit is due.
2. Vendors should respond within 1 month of receiving the reminder by informing COUNTER of their planned timetable for the audit and the name of the organization that will carry out the audit. Any queries about the audit process may be raised at this time.
3. Irrespective of the auditor selected, the audit must adhere to the requirements and use the tests specified in Appendix E of this Code of Practice. The audit is carried out in three stages: Stage 1 covers the format and structure of the usage reports; in Stage 2 the auditor tests the integrity of the reported usage statistics; in Stage 3 the auditor checks that the delivery of the usage reports adheres to the COUNTER requirements
4. Upon completion of the audit the auditor is required to send a signed copy of the audit report to the COUNTER office (lorraine.estelle@counterusage.org).

6.2 Categories of audit result are as follows:

• A Pass, in which case no further action is required by the publisher An organization whose function is to commission, create, collect, validate, host, distribute and trade information online and/or in printed formas a result of the audit. In some cases the auditor may add Observations to the audit report, which are designed to help the vendor See also “Content Provider”. A publisher An organization whose function is to commission, create, collect, validate, host, distribute and trade information online and/or in printed formor other online information provider who delivers licensed content to the 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”and with whom the 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”has a contractual relationship.improve its COUNTER usage reports, but which are outside the scope of the audit itself.
• A Qualified Pass, in which the auditor deems the publisher An organization whose function is to commission, create, collect, validate, host, distribute and trade information online and/or in printed formto have passed the audit, but where the auditor raises a Minor 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 printrequiring further action to maintain COUNTER-compliant status. A Minor 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 printdoes not affect the reported figures, but is one which should be resolved within 3 months of the audit to maintain COUNTER-compliant status. An example of a Minor 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 printis where a report format does not conform to the COUNTER specifications.
• A Fail, where the auditor has identified an 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 printthat must be resolved immediately for the vendor See also “Content Provider”. A publisher An organization whose function is to commission, create, collect, validate, host, distribute and trade information online and/or in printed formor other online information provider who delivers licensed content to the 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”and with whom the 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”has a contractual relationship.to maintain COUNTER -compliant status