The JUSP consortium is delighted to announce that the American Institute of Physics (AIP), Publishing Technology and Nature Publishing Group (NPG) have confirmed their participation in the Journals Usage Statistics Portal (JUSP).
The Journals Usage Statistics Portal (JUSP) is a new service, built in response to demand from the UK HE community. At a time of economic constraint it is essential that libraries can evaluate usage, and make a compelling case about the value of journal subscriptions, and COUNTER compliant data is vital in making such a case. However, obtaining and analysing COUNTER compliant data can be extremely labour intensive with each library having to visit each publisher's website and download their COUNTER Compliant statistics. They then need to collate the datasets and analyse them.
The Portal provides a single point of access for usage statistics, meaning that each University can quickly and easily compare usage across various publishers, years and NESLi[i] journals. This free service provides UK Universities with empirical evidence to inform the management and procurement of e-journals.
The Portal uses the SUSHI (Standardised Usage Harvesting Initiative) protocol to collect the COUNTER compliant statistics, which are then displayed to each institution in an easy to read way. The portal provides tools to aid fast analysis and makes it possible for libraries to compare their usage of different NESLi2 publisher deals, to look at trends over time and to complete their annual SCONUL returns from NESLi2 publishers.
The Portal will also enable benchmarking. Institutions will be able to compare their own usage with of other of anonymised institutions in the same Jisc Band, or with a similar FTE. Institutions will use this information to plan developments in their library systems that will aid resource discovery and increase usage.
"We recognise the importance of this type of data collection in helping the community improve their digital management decision making process and welcome the opportunity to contribute." - Carole Pickaver, Head of Library Services at the University of Kent
"NPG is pleased to be a NESLi2 Publisher and to be able to participate in the JUSP. We hope that the JUSP brings real efficiency and convenience for UK universities. Services like JUSP should help libraries to evaluate value based on usage across a range of journal titles and publishers, ensuring maximum value for money." - Bethan Creighton, Consortia Sales Manager, Nature Publishing Group.
"As an early adopter of COUNTER standards, AIP recognizes the importance of measurable, comparable usage data to our subscribers. So we are pleased to cooperate with the JUSP service, which will improve access to AIP use data for our customers in the UK." - Douglas LaFrenier, Director, Publication Sales & Market Development, AIP
"Publishing Technology is delighted to be involved in this important industry initiative. By making usage statistics for http://www.ingentaconnect.com available to the Journal Usage Statistics Portal via SUSHI librarians will have the latest and most comprehensive usage data for their collections, helping to inform strategic decisions for digital content purchasing." - Rose Robinson, Product Manager, Publishing Technology