1. Credentials

1.1. Counter 5 Service

1.2. Sushi API

2. Available Reports

Note

Statistics are available in Counter 5.0 format until 2024 and in Counter 5.1 format from 2025 onwards.

Available reports are presented below. Each Report is provided in the form of a Master Report, customizable with parameters, and Standard Views where Metric Types, filters and attributes are preselected.

The Metric Types are usage metrics defined by Counter. You will find below a description of each.

Using a filter in a Master Report limits the content of the report to a particular criterion. For example the choice of a filter YOP=2020 (Year Of Publication) will limit the report to content published in 2020.

Using an attribute in a Master Report distribute each metric according to this attribute. For example, choosing a YOP (Year Of Publication) attribute for a TR report will return the metrics for each type broken down by year of publication.

2.1. Platform Reports

2.1.1. PR | Platform Master Report

A customizable report summarizing activity across a content provider’s platforms that allows the user to apply filters and attributes.

  • Type :

    • Master Report

  • Available Metric Types :

    • Total_Item_Investigations

    • Total_Item_Requests

    • Unique_Item_Investigations

    • Unique_Item_Requests

    • Unique_Title_Investigations

    • Unique_Title_Requests

    • Searches_Platform

  • Available Filters :

    • Data_Type

    • Access_Method

  • Available Attributes :

    • Data_Type (5.0 only. In format 5.1, it is systematically applied)

    • Access_Method

2.1.2. PR_P1 | Platform Usage

Platform-level usage summarized by Metric Type.

  • Type :

    • Standard View

  • Preselected Metric Types :

    • Total_Item_Requests

    • Unique_Item_Requests

    • Unique_Title_Requests

  • Preselected Filters :

    • Access_Method=Regular

  • Preselected Attributes :

    • none

2.2. Title Reports

2.2.1. TR | Title Master Report

Customizable report detailing activity at the title level (journal, book) that allows the user to apply filters and attributes.

  • Type :

    • Master Report

  • Available Metric Types :

    • Total_Item_Investigations

    • Total_Item_Requests

    • Unique_Item_Investigations

    • Unique_Item_Requests

    • Unique_Title_Investigations

    • Unique_Title_Requests

    • No_License

    • Limit_Exceeded

  • Available Filters :

    • Data_Type

    • Section_Type (Counter 5.0 only)

    • YOP

    • Access_Type

    • Access_Method

  • Available Attributes :

    • Data_Type

    • Section_Type (Counter 5.0 only)

    • YOP

    • Access_Type

    • Access_Method

2.2.2. TR_B1 | Book Requests (Excluding OA_Gold)

Reports on full-text activity for books, excluding Gold Open Access content, as Total_Item_Requests and Unique_Title_Requests.

  • Type :

    • Standard View

  • Preselected Metric Types :

    • Total_Item_Requests

    • Unique_Title_Requests

  • Preselected Filters :

    • Data_Type=Book

    • Access_Type=Controlled

    • Access_Method=Regular

  • Preselected Attributes :

    • YOP

2.2.3. TR_B2 | Book Access Denied

Reports on Access Denied activity for books where users were denied access because their institution did not have a license for the book. OpenEdition does not limit the number of simultaneous accesses to a resource. The Metric_Type Limit_Exceeded does not return any results.

  • Type :

    • Standard View

  • Preselected Metric Types :

    • No_License

    • Limit_Exceeded

  • Preselected Filters :

    • Data_Type=Book

    • Access_Method=Regular

  • Preselected Attributes :

    • YOP

2.2.4. TR_B3 | Book Usage by Access Type

Reports on book usage showing all applicable Metric_Types broken down by Access_Type.

  • Type :

    • Standard View

  • Preselected Metric Types :

    • Total_Item_Investigations

    • Total_Item_Requests

    • Unique_Item_Investigations

    • Unique_Item_Requests

    • Unique_Title_Investigations

    • Unique_Title_Requests

  • Preselected Filters :

    • Data_Type=Book

    • Access_Method=Regular

  • Preselected Attributes :

    • YOP

    • Access_Type

2.2.5. TR_J1 | Journal Requests (Excluding OA_Gold)

Reports on usage of journal content, excluding Gold Open Access content, as Total_Item_Requests and Unique_Item_Requests.

  • Type :

    • Standard View

  • Preselected Metric Types :

    • Total_Item_Requests

    • Unique_Item_Requests

  • Preselected Filters :

    • Data_Type=Journal

    • Access_Type=Controlled

    • Access_Method=Regular

  • Preselected Attributes :

    • none

2.2.6. TR_J2 | Journal Access Denied

Reports on Access Denied activity for journal content where users were denied access because their institution did not have a license for the title. OpenEdition does not limit the number of simultaneous accesses to a resource. The Metric_Type Limit_Exceeded does not return any results.

  • Type :

    • Standard View

  • Preselected Metric Types :

    • No_License

    • Limit_Exceeded

  • Preselected Filters :

    • Data_Type=Journal

    • Access_Method=Regular

  • Preselected Attributes :

    • none

2.2.7. TR_J3 | Journal Usage by Access Type

Reports on usage of journal content for all Metric_Types broken down by Access_Type (Controlled or OA_Gold).

  • Type :

    • Standard View

  • Preselected Metric Types :

    • Total_Item_Investigations

    • Total_Item_Requests

    • Unique_Item_Investigations

    • Unique_Item_Requests

  • Preselected Filters :

    • Data_Type=Journal

    • Access_Method=Regular

  • Preselected Attributes :

    • Access_Type

2.2.8. TR_J4 | Journal Requests by YOP (Excluding OA_Gold)

Breaks down the usage of journal content, excluding Gold Open Access content, by year of publication (YOP), providing counts for the Metric_Types Total_Item_Requests and Unique_Item_Requests.

  • Type :

    • Standard View

  • Preselected Metric Types :

    • Total_Item_Requests

    • Unique_Item_Requests

  • Preselected Filters :

    • Data_Type=Journal

    • Access_Type=Controlled

    • Access_Method=Regular

  • Preselected Attributes :

    • YOP

3. Metric types

3.1. Investigations / Requests

The Counter 5 specification divides the consultation of content elements according to the types Request and Investigation.

A Request is an access to a full text content item: an article in HTML or PDF, a full journal issue in PDF, a book chapter or a full book, in HTML, PDF or ePub.

An Investigation is an access to a full-text content item OR to information presenting that content item: access to journal issue or book, access to abstracts of moving wall articles, access to abstracts of books an book chapters in exclusive access. Note that Requests accesses are also counted in Investigations.

You can read the complete and illustrated description formulated by Counter at the following URL: https://cop5.countermetrics.org/en/5.1.0.1/03-specifications/03-counter-report-common-attributes-and-elements.html

3.2. Total_Item_Investigations and Total_Item_Requests

The Total_Item_Investigations and Total_Item_Requests metrics count all accesses to a resource. When a user is accessing a resource (an article, a book or a chapter of a book…) several times during a user session, each access to this resource is counted in Total_Item_*. Eventual double clicks are ignored.

3.3. Unique_Item_Investigations and Unique_Item_Requests

The Unique_Item_Investigations and Unique_Item_Requests metrics count the number of content items (chapters, articles, etc.) accessed, considered only once by user session.

3.4. Unique_Title_Investigations et Unique_Title_Requests

The metrics Unique_Title_Investigations and Unique_Title_Requests are only applicable for books. They measure the number of unique accesses to a book during a user session. Thus, a reader’s accesses to 3 chapters of a full-text book during a user session will only be counted once in the Unique_Title_Requests metric.

3.5. Item and Books: Differences 5.0 / 5.1

Items are counted differently for downloading an entire book.

Download a 10-chapter book in PDF or ePub format

Mertic

Counter 5.0

Counter 5.1

Total_Item_Requests

1

10

Unique_Item_Requests

1

10

Unique_Title_Request

1

1

Note

As specified in the Counter specifications, this feature applies only to books. It does not apply to the download of complete journal issues.

3.6. User session

Used in the Unique_* measurements computation, a user session is defined by 3 criteria:

  • the user IP address;

  • the user-agent;

  • the date + the time of the visit (between 0 and 23; minutes and seconds are not considered)

This is a session approximation. Indeed, OpenEdition does not record the user sessions of the readers. This method is valid according to the Counter 5 Code of Practice: 7.3 Counting Unique Items.

3.7. No_License

Records access denied to a resource in restricted access. On OpenEdition, this can be:

  • journal articles under embargo;

  • articles or journal issues in PDF or ePub format for journals of the Open Access Freemium bundle, for non-subscribing institutions;

  • books or chapters of books in restricted access, not acquired by the institution;

  • books or book chapters in PDF or ePub format in restricted access or Open Access Freemium, not acquired by the institution.

3.8. Limit_Exceeded

OpenEdition does not limit the number of simultaneous connections to a resource. Thus, the Metric_Type Limit_Exceeded does not return any results.

3.9. Searches_Platform

User searches available at the Platform level only.

On OpenEdition, this matches the searches done :

4. Sushi API

The Sushi API documentation is available at this address: https://counter5.openedition.org/api/doc.

5. Counter 5 and Access_Type

The concept of Access_Type has changed between Counter 5.0 and Counter 5.1, particularly for Freemium access.

5.1. Counter 5 .0 Access_Type and OpenEdition Freemium

Journals and books published in Open Access Freemium are available in open access in HTML format and in restricted access for PDF and ePub formats. As a result, and following the recommendations of the Technical Advisory Group Counter:

  • Requests on HTML content are counted with an Access_Type=’OA_Gold’.

  • Requests on PDF and ePub content are counted with an Access_Type=’Controlled’.

A subscribing institution will therefore be able to observe in its Counter 5 reports, for the same journal, requests having for Access*_Type “OA_Gold” (requests for HTML versions) AND requests having for *Access_Type “Controlled” (requests for PDF and ePub versions).

5.2. Counter 5 .1 Access_Type and OpenEdition Freemium

The COUNTER Code of Practice requires a single Access_Type for each item and recommends using the most restrictive access type when different parts of the item may have different access rules.

For Freemium Open Access distribution, all consultations are therefore classified with Access_Type = Controlled.

5.3. Summary table of Access_Type

Counter 5.0

Counter 5.1

Embargo Journal

Journal articles under embargo

Controlled

Controlled

Articles out of embargo

Controlled

Open

Open Access Journal

All articles

OA_Gold

Open

Open Access Freemium Journal

All articles in HTML format

OA_Gold

Controlled

All articles in PDF or ePub format

Controlled

Controlled

Open Access Book

All chapters, all formats

OA_Gold

Open

Restricted Access Book

All chapters, all formats

Controlled

Controlled

Open Access Freemuim Book

All chapters in HTML format

OA_Gold

Controlled

All chapters in PDF or ePub format

Controlled

Controlled

6. Dates and availability of reports

  • Reports for a given month are available from the 5th of the following month.

  • Reports are available for 2 years plus the current year. Thus, reports for January 2024 and February 2024 will be available until 12/31/2026. It will not be possible to get the reports once the availability period has expired. Therefore, the data will have to be harvested beforehand.

7. Certification