Guide to reports (R5)
This guide is for reports available from the COUNTER Release 5 (R5) area of JUSP.
An initial set of core reports and views for COUNTER Release 5 were introduced into JUSP in April 2019 with data starting from January 2019 when R5 became mandatory. This guide gives a brief introduction to COUNTER Release 5 and an overview of the reports currently available and in development in JUSP.
COUNTER Release 5: master reports and standard views
Release 5 of the COUNTER code of practice defines Master Reports and Standard Views.
Master reports
The Master Reports are very large reports containing many metrics and attributes which can be filtered to show Standard Views and user-selected views that meet a wide range of use cases. For example, the Title Master Report (TR) covers both usage and access denials for books and journals and is broken down by year of publication.
Standard views
Standard views are pre-defined and filtered views of the master reports intended to meet common use cases. One example of this is the standard view TR_J1: Journal Requests (Excluding OA_Gold) which can be used to inform journal renewals. In this way, Standard Views correspond to the type of reports in Release 4 and it is these views of the reports that will be most frequently used by libraries to support processes such as renewal decisions, internal and external reporting, and purchasing decisions. Please see the table below for further examples and associated standard views.
Metrics
Metrics are a way of describing what is being counted. New metric names have been introduced in Release 5 to improve consistency and clarity, but in many cases 'what' is being counted is unchanged. This means that it is possible to make direct comparisons between counts in R4 and R5.
For in-depth information about reports and metrics the COUNTER website includes helpful support materials. Links to various resources are listed at the end of this page.
Reports and views in JUSP
JUSP currently gathers three of the COUNTER master reports: Title Master Report (TR) which covers both books and journals, Platform Master Report (PR), and Database Master Report (DR). The Item Master Report (IR) will be introduced during 2019 when available from participating suppliers.
JUSP will offer a range of reports and views derived from the master reports and where appropriate merged with other information such as core title status from Knowledge Base Plus (KB+).
COUNTER Standard views verses JUSP custom views
Standard views are defined by the COUNTER code of practice to meet common use cases. The Standard views provided in JUSP are in the same format and include the same information as those delivered by COUNTER-compliant suppliers.
JUSP has also developed additional custom views which provide features valued by users in JUSP's R4 service. These views are based on the title standard views for books and journals and use the same pre-set filters as the standard views but with additional features:
- View is simplified by hiding some columns for ease of viewing
- Report totals are a given for each metric type in the report
- Titles marked as core in KB+ are flagged with a yellow star
- The TR_J3 Journal Usage by Access Type shows titles which are listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). Note that DOAJ information is not applicable in other journal views as OA usage is excluded from TR_J1 and TR_J4, and TR_J2 only shows access denials
- Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) will be added to appropriate views at a later date
Both type of reports are exportable as CSV or TSV so you can carry out further analysis of your data in other tools.
Journal views
| Full name | Code | Description | Custom view available? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Journal Requests (Excluding OA_Gold) | TR_J1 | Shows full text usage for all journal articles that are not Gold Open Access | Yes – includes KB+ core title information |
| Journal Access Denied | TR_J2 | Shows the number of times users are denied access to articles in a journal either because the user or the user's institution does not have access rights or the simultaneous user limit for their institution's license | Yes – includes KB+ core title information |
| Journal Usage by Access Type | TR_J3 | Shows all applicable metric types broken down by Access_Type (Controlled or OA_Gold) | Yes – includes KB+ core title information includes and DOAJ |
| Journal Requests by YOP (Excluding OA_Gold) | TR_J4 | Show a break down by publication year for full text usage for all journal articles that are not Gold Open Access | Yes – includes KB+ core title information |
Book views
| Full name | Code | Description | Custom view available? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Book Requests (excluding OA_Gold) | TR_B1 | Shows full text usage for all book content that are not Gold Open Access | Yes |
| Book Access Denied | TR_B2 | Shows the number of times users are denied access to book content either because the user or the user's institution does not have access rights or the simultaneous user limit for their institution's license | Yes |
| Book Usage by Access Type | TR_B3 | Shows all applicable metric types broken down by Access_Type (Controlled or OA_Gold) | Yes |
Platform views
| Full name | Code | Description | Custom view available? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform Usage | PR_P1 | Shows item requests and searches at the platform level | No |
Database views
| Full name | Code | Description | Custom view available? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Database Search and Item Usage | DR_D1 | Shows searches, investigations and requests at a database level | No |
| Database Access Denied | DR_D2 | Shows the number of times users are denied access to a database either because the user or the user's institution does not have access rights or the simultaneous user limit for their institution's license has been reached | No |
Master reports with filters
Selection menus offer flexibility to filter these large and granular reports to meet your specific requirements. For detailed information on creating tailored views for journals and books using the TR: Filter Title Master Report, please see our step-by-step guide [PDF]
Additional/Summary reports (to be developed over 2019)
JUSP additional reports will be developed during 2019. These will replicate much of the functionality available in the R4 portals, such as SCONUL/annual summary reports, usage profiling, trends and reports for various groups or consortia.
What's being counted / Comparing metrics in R4 and R5
More detail about the various metric types can be found in the glossary and in the COUNTER guides (links below), but here are the key points of comparison:
- 'Total_item_requests' in the TR_J1: Journal Requests (Excluding OA_Gold) is equivalent to 'full-text requests' in the JR1-JR1GOA
- 'Total_item_requests' in the TR_J3: Journal Usage by Access Type (Controlled + OA_Gold) is equivalent to 'full-text requests' in the JR1
- 'Total_item_requests' in the TR_B3: Book Usage by Access Type (Controlled + OA_Gold) is equivalent to ‘section requests’ in the BR2
- 'No_License' in the TR_J2, TR_B2 and DR_D2 is equivalent to 'no_license' in the JR2, BR3 and DB2
- 'Limit_Exceeded' in the TR_J2, TR_B2 and DR_D2 is equivalent to 'turnaway' in the JR2, BR3 and DB2
Also see section 13.3 Transitioning from COUNTER R4 to R5 of the COUNTER Code of Practice Release 5: https://www.projectcounter.org/code-of-practice-five-sections/13-transitioning-previous-releases-new-reporting-services/#rfourtofive
Which report or view to use
| I would like to ... | Release 4 (usage available to July 2019) | Release 5 (usage available from January 2019) |
|---|---|---|
| Evaluate usage of journal subscriptions to inform renewal decisions | JR1 is the main usage report for journals and contains all usage. There
are two
sub-reports: the JR1a
and JR1 GOA which had a subset of usage. It is common practice to subtract the JR1a and JR1 GOA
from JR1 totals to get a figure for the 'frontfile' and there is a JUSP report that carries out this calculation.
The JR5 may also be used to get this number.
However, there are issues with this:
|
The TR_J1: Journal Requests
(Excluding OA_
Gold) is the main journal usage report.
If you wish to only view usage for certain years of publication covered by your subscription (e.g. the previous calendar year or 3 years) you can use the TR_J4: Journal Requests by YOP (Excluding OA_Gold) and filter to only show those years. The total item requests in the TR_J1 are equivalent to the JR1 total request figures minus JR1 GOA. These reports contain two metrics (or counts): total_item_requests (useful for year-on-year comparisons with R4) and Unique_Item_Requests (useful for cross-platform comparisons as it addresses the case where both the PDF and HTML versions are viewed by the same user in the same session) |
| Evaluate usage of a database subscription | The DB1 report is used to assess usage of a database using metrics: Searches, Result Clicks and Record Views. | The DR_D1: Database Search and Item Usage shows total item investigations, item requests, and searches (regular and automated) for each database on a platform. |
| Monitor usage of ebooks | The BR2 is the main report for monitoring usage of ebooks and shows the number of section requests per title.
The BR1 is also used when the BR2 is not available and shows the number of whole book requests. The BR1 is only supplied when the book can be downloaded as a whole. Due to ambiguities in the meaning of section (e.g. chapter, entries, page), cross-supplier comparison is challenging in Release 4. |
The TR_B1: Book Requests (excluding OA_Gold) is the main report for book usage.
It contains two metrics: Total_Item_Requests and Unique_Title_Requests. Total_Item_Requests shows overall activity, but as with the BR2, numbers between platforms will vary significantly based on how the content is delivered. The Unique_Title_Requests addresses this issue by counting the number titles viewed by a user in a session and so provides comparable usage across book platforms. |
| Identify potential resources for purchase using attempted and denied accesses | The JR2, BR3 and DB2 each
provide details of access denied per journal titles, book titles and database, respectively.
Access denials could be due to No license or turnaway (concurrent users limit) |
The TR_J2, TR_B2 and
DR_D2 each provide details of access denied per journal title, book title and database, respectively.
Access denials could be due to No_license or Limit_exceeded |
| Assess usage of a backfile | The JR1a is a sub-set of the JR1 usage including only usage of
articles defined as being in an archive.
The JR5 breaks down usage by year of publication (YOP) and allows you to limit to specific years and year ranges as well as profile usage of an archive. |
The TR_J4: Journal Requests by YOP (Excluding OA_Gold) allows you to view usage broken down by year of
publication.
Download the report and filter to the appropriate years. Alternatively, the TR: Filter Title Master Report functionality allows you to create a view limited to a range of years. |
| Monitor gold open access usage | The JR1 GOA shows full-text requests for gold open access articles only at a title level.
There is no equivalent book report in R4. |
TR_J3: Journal Usage by Access Type and TR_B3: Book Usage by Access
Type show all usage broken down by access type – Controlled or
OA_Gold.
You can download the report and filter to OA_Gold only. Alternatively, the TR: Filter Title Master Report functionality allows you to create a view limited to OA only. |
| Compile usage data for the SCONUL return | JUSP provides summary reports for both journals (based on JR1) and books (based on BR2) for the academic year (August - July). This report is only available up to August 2018 - July 2019. | To be developed in consultation with SCONUL. |
COUNTER resources
For more in-depth information about the COUNTER reports and metrics please refer the range of resources produced by COUNTER: