Frequently Asked Questions on COUNTER Reports (Release 4)
COUNTER 5 Information Coming Soon!Q: What COUNTER 4 reports are available for CQ Press content?
A: All of the standard COUNTER 4 reports applicable to CQ Press content are available for serials, databases, books, and the CQ Press Library platform, including:
- Serial Report 1: Number of Successful Full-Text Article Requests by Month and Serial
- Serial Report 2: Access Denied to Full-text Articles by Month, Serial and Category
- Serial Report 4: Total Searches Run By Month and Collection
- Serial Report 5: Number of Successful Full-Text Article Requests by YOP and Serial
- Database Report 1: Total Searches, Result Clicks and Record Views by Month and Database
- Database Report 2: Access Denied by Month, Database and Category
- Platform Report 1: Total Searches, Result Clicks and Record Views by Month and Platform
- Book Report 2: Number of Successful Section Requests by Month and Title
- Book Report 3: Access Denied to Content Items by Month, Title and Category
- Book Report 4: Access Denied to Content Items by Month, Platform and Category
- Book Report 5: Total Searches by Month and Title
Q: What products are affected?
A: All SAGE and CQ Press products are COUNTER 4-compliant. COUNTER 4 reports are available for all resources on the CQ Press Library. To access reports for CQ Press Library products, please click here. To access reports for your other SAGE holdings, please visit the respective platform's librarian resources page.
Q: Which reports for CQ Press products are new or updated in COUNTER 4 from COUNTER 3?
A: The following reports required for COUNTER 4 compliance are new:
- All of the Book Reports are new (usage data for books was previously listed in the Database Reports).
- Journal Report 2 now includes 'access denied: content item not licenced', in addition to 'Turnaways' (access denied: simultaneous/concurrent user licence limit exceeded.
- Journal Report 5 now includes usage by Year of Publication (YOP).
- The Database Reports now show record views and results clicks, including hits from federated and automated searches.
- The new Platform Report is identical to the Database Report 3 from COUNTER 3.
A: Yes, all reports are subscription-sensitive. If you are trialing a resource during the time period of the report, that resource will appear in your report.
Q: Are reports available through SUSHI?
A: Yes, please follow the SUSHI access instructions to obtain these reports. We welcome your feedback to help us improve these reports.
Q: Where can I learn more about COUNTER 4 reports and terminology?
A: http://www.projectcounter.org/code_practice.html
Q: Which reports should I pull to see usage for my online editions or ebook titles?
For the online editions or ebooks, please use the Book Reports to monitor all usage after 2009. To find usage before 2009, please refer to the Database Reports you previously used.
Q: Why are some of my COUNTER 4 reports returning zeroes?
A: Fields should only contain zeroes if there was no usage during that time period. You may be seeing zeroes because your access to the title expired at some point during the time period (or if your free trial period ended), or if usage occurred the day the report was pulled (reports refresh with new data each day). If you believe there are errors on your report, please contact us.
Q: Why are COUNTER 3 reports no longer available for CQ Press Library products?
A: COUNTER 3 reports were retired by SAGE / CQ Press in March 2015. Since December 31, 2013, Release 4 of the COUNTER Code of Practice for e-Resources has superseded Release 3, and SAGE / CQ Press remains committed to providing institutions with the most useful data reporting.
Q: How can I ensure that SAGE Publications and CQ Press are COUNTER compliant?
A: You can view the COUNTER Register of Compliant Vendors here: https://www.projectcounter.org/about/register/
Q: Who may I contact if I have additional questions?
A: Should you have further questions or you need assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us at onlinesupport@sagepub.co.uk.
We also encourage you to become familiar with the new metrics and report views by downloading COUNTER’s Friendly Guide to Release 5 for Librarians.
