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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Governance: Executive Committee Consortia Arnold HirshonNELINETUSA Hazel WoodwardCranfield UniversityUK Libraries Christine FyfeUniversity of LeicesterUK David GoodmanPrinceton UniversityUSA Phil DavisCornell UniversityUSA Publishers, Aggregators, etc. Richard GedyeOxford University PressUK (Chair) Marthyn BorghuisElsevier ScienceNetherlands Roger BrownGlaxoSmithKlineUK Timo Hannay Nature Publishing GroupUK Terry HulbertInstitute of Physics UK Tony Kidd University of GlasgowUK Jack OchsAmerican Chemical SocietyUSA Oliver Pesch EBSCOUSA Project Director Peter Shepherd UK

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

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

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

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

Definitions of Terms Data elements to be collected Page views Bibliographic data Page type Source of page Authentication of user Access rights Session data Market elements Every effort was made to incorporate or reconcile the definitions with existing ones from other groups, such as NISO and ICOLC. # Term Examples / formats Definition Page type ItemFull text article, TOC, Abstract, Database record A uniquely identifiable piece of published work that may be original or a digest or a review of other published work. PDF, Postscript and HTML formats of the same full text article (for example), will be counted as separate items Article An item of original written work published in a journal or other serial publication. An article is complete in itself, but usually cites other relevant published works in its list of references TOC (Table of Contents) A list of all articles published in a journal issue

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

Specifications for Usage Reports REPORT CONTENT AND FORMAT Level 1 Reports Journal Report 1: Number of successful full-text article requests by month and journal Journal Report 2: Turnaways by month and journal Database Report 1: Total searches & sessions by month & database Database Report 2: T urnaways by month & database Database Report 3: Total searches & sessions by month & service Level 2 Reports Journal Report 3: Number of successful item requests and turnaways by month, journal & page type Journal Report 4: total searches run, by month & service

Journal Report 1: Successful Full-Text Article Requests by Month and JournalFull-Text ArticleRequestsJournal Print ISSN Online ISSN Jan - 01 Feb - 01 Mar - 01 Calendar YTD Total for all journals Journal of AA Journal of BB Journal of CC Journal of DD Example Level 1 Report

Journal Report 2: Turnaways by Month and JournalTurnawaysJournal Print ISSN Online ISSN Page Type Jan - 01 Feb - 01 Mar - 01 Calendar YTD Total: full-text turn- aways for all journals Journal of AA Full text Turnaways Journal of BB Full text Turnaways Example Level 1 Report

Database Report 1: Total Searches and Sessions by Month & DatabaseSearchesSessionsDatabase Jan - 01 Feb - 01 Mar - 01 Calendar YTD Database AA Searches Run Database AA Sessions Database BB Searches Run Database BB Sessions Example Level 1 Report

Database Report 1: Total Searches and Sessions by Month & DatabaseSearchesSessionsDatabase Example

Journal Report 3: Number of Successful Item Requests and Turnaways, by Month, Journal and Page-TypeSuccessful Item RequestsTurnaways Journal Name Print ISSN Online ISSN Page Type Jan-01 Feb-01 Mar-01 Calendar YTD Journal of AA Table of Contents Journal of AA Abstracts Journal of AA References Journal of AA Full-text Postscript RequestsPostscript Journal of AA Full-text PDF RequestsPDF Journal of AA Full-text HTML RequestsHTML Journal of AA Full-text Total Requests Journal of AA Full-text PDF Turnaways Journal of AA Full-text HTML Turnaways ……………………………. ……………..………………………………………. Total: all Journals Table of Contents Total: all Journals Abstracts Total: all Journals References Total: all Journals Full-text Postscript Requests Total: all Journals Full-text PDF Requests Total: all Journals Full-text HTML Requests Total: all Journals Full-text Total Requests Total: all Journals Full-text PDF Turnaways Total: all Journals Full-text HTML Turnaways Example Level 2 Report

Database Report 1: Total Searches and Sessions by Month & DatabaseSearchesSessionsDatabase Example Example Level 2 Report

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

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

Data processing guidelines Covers only intended usage Code of Practice specifies the criteria to be met by the data used in building the Usage Reports Only successful requests will be counted Records generated by the server, together with the requested pages, should be ignored All users’ double clicks within 10 seconds on an http- link should be counted as only one request (30 seconds for PDF) More detailed guidelines are being compiled on data processing and will shortly appear on the COUNTER web site

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

Publishers who have stated they intend to comply American Chemical Society American Institute of Physics Blackwell CABI EBSCO Elsevier Extenza HighWire Ingenta Institute of Physics ISI NPG Oxford University Press Initial List

Auditing A publisher or content provider will be able to state that it is “Counter Compliant” only if this can be certified through an independent audit Audit scope: reports, processes & application of definitions Auditing will be required beginning in 2004 RFP will be issued to qualify auditors Auditing processes are under development A list of COUNTER-approved auditors will be made available

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

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

For more information………. Peter Shepherd (Project Director)