2 OverviewΒΆ

This section provides an overview of the scope of the COUNTER Code of Practice.

Section 3 Technical Specifications for COUNTER Reports introduces the REQUIRED reports, describes the common format shared by all COUNTER reports, and defines the COUNTER report attributes and their values.

Section 4 COUNTER reports provides detailed specifications for each COUNTER report. Use this section to understand what elements are included in each report.

Section 5 Delivery of COUNTER Reports outlines the options a content provider MUST provide to enable customers to access their reports.

Section 6 Logging Usage describes various options used for logging usage transactions.

Section 7 Processing Rules for Underlying COUNTER Reporting Data discusses topics such as which return codes to count, double-click filtering, calculating unique items and unique titles accessed in a session, classifying searches (regular, federated, automated, or platform), robots and internet crawlers, tools that cause bulk downloads, and text and data mining.

Section 8 SUSHI for Automated Report Harvesting offers a more in-depth description of the REQUIRED COUNTER_SUSHI API support.

Section 9 Audit provides the requirements for the COUNTER audit.

Section 10 Other Compliance Topics talks about license language to require COUNTER usage statistics, confidentiality of data, and supporting consortia in their need to obtain usage data for their members.

Section 11 Extending the Code of Practice offers suggestions for content providers who may want to create custom reports or include additional elements and attribute values in COUNTER reports.

Section 12 Continuous Maintenance outlines the procedures that have been put in place to allow the Code of Practice to be amended and expanded on an incremental basis in a controlled and managed way.

Section 13 Transitioning from Previous Releases or to New Reporting Services describes the procedures and requirements for transitioning to a new reporting service or underlying logging system and for transitioning to a new COUNTER release, in particular from R4 to R5.

Section 14 Change History provides a list of the Code of Practice releases.