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Electronic article and journal usage statistics (EAJUS): proposal for an industry‐wide standard
Author(s) -
Cowhig Jerry
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
learned publishing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.06
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-4857
pISSN - 0953-1513
DOI - 10.1087/095315101750240494
Subject(s) - javascript , connection (principal bundle) , library science , citation , publishing , computer science , world wide web , law , political science , engineering , structural engineering
Usage statistics are a topic of much current attention. They are the subject of a White Paper recently written for the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) by Judy Luther (www.clir.org/pubs/abstract/ pub94abst.html) which was discussed at the Charleston library conference in November 2000 and in April 2001 at the STM conference in Amsterdam. The White Paper notes many initiatives and working groups known to be interested in usage statistics – a list that constantly expands. In October 2000, both the Innovations Committee and the Library Relations Committee of STM – the international STM publishers association – decided at their Frankfurt meetings that usage statistics should be their next topic of consideration. (Noting the overlap, Innovations has left it to Library Relations.) These are merely examples of the current level of interest. Journal publishing is unusual, if not unique, in the media industries for having existed with no widespread or robust usership figures. Libraries occasionally undertake their own ‘shelving’ or ‘gate’ surveys. Individual publishers have their own market research. But most of us know little about the readership of our paper journals, and almost nothing comparative. The new era of electronic publishing can readily provide an answer to this knowledge gap. All publishers with journals on the web are regularly asked for usage statistics by their customers. Responses vary. Publishers in physics, chemistry, mathematics and related subjects have been wired for some time and generally have good in-house statistics. Some variation lies in their willingness to share them with customers. Medical publishers are increasingly publishing web versions, and they bring a different heritage: pharmaceutical companies have long demanded readership data in medical publishing and will demand electronic access figures when they are giving financial support. In 1998 the International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) produced a set of guidelines for usage statistics (www.library. yale.edu/consortia/webstats.html). Their intention was that publishers who have contracts with library consortia should supply the consortia with usage statistics in the manner described in the guidelines. Both these current situations – publisher to individual buyer, and publisher to consortium – provide figures