Appendix A: Glossary of Terms

Note: The main Code of Practice document takes precedence in the case of any conflicts between it and this appendix.

Term	Definition	Examples
Abstract	A short summary of an article or content item. A detailed view of article metadata that includes the summary but not the full text. Accessing the abstract/detailed view falls into the usage category of Investigations.
Accepted manuscript	The version of a journal article that has been accepted for publication in a journal. This version includes any pre-publication revisions, but it does not include any formatting or copyediting changes or corrections.
Access Denied	The user is denied access to a content item because their institution lacks a proper license or because simultaneous user limits specified in the license have been exceeded.	Limit_Exceeded, No_License
Access_Method	A COUNTER report attribute indicating whether the usage related to investigations and requests was generated by a human user browsing and searching a website (Regular) or by Text and Data Mining processes (TDM).	Regular, TDM
Access_Type	A COUNTER report attribute used to report on the nature of access control restrictions, if any, placed on the content item on the platform at the time when the content item was accessed.	Controlled, Open, Free_to_Read
Aggregated_Full_Content	A COUNTER Host_Type for report providers that provide access to databases of full text serial and/or book content (monographs, reference works, etc.), and/or content otherwise aggregated into titles, where content is accessed in the context of the licensed database.
Aggregated full-text database	A full-text database that includes content from multiple titles, usually from multiple publishers.	Academic Search Complete
Aggregator	A type of report provider that hosts content from multiple publishers, delivers content directly to customers, and is paid for this service by customers.	EBSCOhost, Gale, Lexis Nexis, ProQuest
A&I database A&I_Database	A database that primarily contains bibliographic metadata and descriptive abstracts to support search, discovery, and selection of the described items. The majority of A&I databases center on articles, books, and book chapters. A&I_Databases do not host full text of the described items. For databases that contain A&I and full text, see Full-text database, Aggregated full-text database, Aggregated_Full_Content and Full_Content_Database. A COUNTER Host_Type.	PubMed, PsycInfo
AJAX	Asynchronous JavaScript And XML. AJAX allows web pages to be updated asynchronously by exchanging data with a web server behind the scenes.
ALPSP	The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers is an international trade association of non-profit publishers.
APC	See Article processing charge.
API	Application Programming Interface.
Archive	Non-current collections of journals, books, articles, or other publications that are preserved because of their continuing value and which are frequently made available by publishers as separate acquisitions.	Oxford Journals Archive
Article	An article from a journal, or an article available as a standalone piece of content (e.g. in an institutional repository) either as a preprint, an author accepted manuscript, a version of record, or another article version as defined by NISO RP-8-2008, Journal Article Versions. An article is complete, but usually cites other relevant published works in its list of references, if it has one. A COUNTER Data_Type.
Article processing charges	An article processing charge (APC), also known as a publication fee, is a fee which is sometimes charged to authors to make a work available open access in either an open access journal or hybrid journal. …They are the most common funding method for professionally published open access articles. [Wikipedia]
Article_Version	Defined by ALPSP and NISO as a classification of the version of an Article as it goes through its publication life-cycle, in NISO RP-8-2008, Journal Article Versions. An element in COUNTER Item Reports that identifies the version of the Article being accessed.	AM, VoR, CVoR, EVoR
Articles in press	Full-text articles that have been accepted for publication in a journal and have been made available online to customers and that will be assigned a publication date of the current year or a future year.
Attribute	See Report Attributes.
Audiovisual	A form of multimedia, typically describing video content. A COUNTER Data_Type.
Author(s)	The person/people who wrote/created the items whose usage is being reported.
Automated search	A search from a host site or discovery service where multiple databases are searched simultaneously with a single query from the user interface and the end user does not have the option of selecting the databases being searched. Usage of this nature is reported as Searches_Automated. A search run repeatedly (e.g. daily or weekly) by a script or automated process. Usage of this nature must not be included in COUNTER reports.
Automated search agent	A script or automated process that runs a search repeatedly, usually at pre-set intervals such as daily or weekly.
Backfile	See Archive.	Oxford Journals Archive
Begin_Date	The first date in the range for the usage represented in a COUNTER report.
Book	A monograph text, edited volume, textbook, or other form of non-serial (book) publication. A COUNTER Data_Type.
Book chapter	A subdivision of a book or of some categories of reference work; usually numbered and titled.
Book Requests	Book content items retrieved.
Book_Segment	A generic term applying to a sub-division of a book regardless of the label applied by the publisher (e.g. chapter, section, etc.). May be available as part of the book as a standalone piece of content available as a distinct item not aggregated into a title, for example in an institutional repository. A COUNTER Data_Type.
Bulk download	A single event where multiple content items are downloaded to the user’s computer.
Cache	An automated system that collects items from remote servers to serve closer and more efficiently to a given population of users. Often populated by robots or modern browsers. Note: Publishers take steps to prevent local caching of their content, i.e. including appropriate response headers on their site to restrict caching.
Central Index	Also known as a Discovery Index. A collection of locally-hosted, consistently indexed metadata and content harvested from multiple external metadata and content sources, frequently including a library’s catalog and repository metadata, and usually representing a significant portion of the library’s collection.
Certified Public Accountant (CPA)	An accounting designation granted to accounting professionals in the United States.
Chapter	A subdivision of a book or of some categories of reference work, usually numbered and titled.
Chartered Accountant (CA)	An international accounting designation granted to accounting professionals in many countries around the world, aside from the United States.
Citation	A reference to a published or unpublished source.
Collection	A subset of the content of a service. A collection is a branded group of online information products from one or more vendors that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete group. For the COUNTER reporting this term is restricted to pre-set collections that are defined like databases. See Database. Note: A package or bundle provided by a publisher is not considered a database or a collection.
Component	A uniquely identifiable constituent part of a content item composed of more than one file (digital object). Report providers may choose to offer component usage reporting, but are not obliged to do so.
Conference	A collection of papers, posters, or recordings of material associated with a conference. Typically part of a serial publication. A COUNTER Data_Type.
Conference_Item	A single paper, poster, or recording of material associated with a conference. A COUNTER Data_Type.
Consortium	A group of institutions joining together to license content.	Ohiolink
Consortium member	An institution that has obtained access to online information resources as part of a consortium. A consortium member is defined by a subset of the consortium’s range of IP addresses or by other specific authentication details.	Ohio State University
Content host	A website that provides access to content typically accessed by patrons of libraries and other research institutions.
Content item	A generic term describing a unit of content accessed by a user of a content host. Typical content items include articles, books, chapters, multimedia, etc.
Content provider	See Report provider.
Controlled	A COUNTER Access_Type. At the time of the Request or Investigation the content item was restricted to authorized users (e.g. behind a paywall) on this platform. This includes free content that is only available to authorized (registered) users. For example, trial subscription usage would be considered Controlled.
Copyright holder	A person or a company who owns any one of the Exclusive Rights of copyright in a work.
Corrected Version of Record	A version of the Version of Record of a journal article in which errors in the VoR have been corrected. The errors could be author errors, publisher errors, or other processing errors.
COUNTER compliance pending	Status of a vendor who is currently not compliant but whose audit is in progress or scheduled.
COUNTER Report Validation Tool	An online tool to validate COUNTER reports in JSON and tabular format.
COUNTER Reports	The four primary reports (Platform, Database, Title and Item Reports) defined by COUNTER, highly flexible with multiple filter options, and with associated Standard Views of the COUNTER Reports.
COUNTER_SUSHI API	A RESTful implementation of SUSHI automation intended to return COUNTER Release 5 reports and snippets of COUNTER usage in JSON format.
Crawler	See Internet robot, crawler, spider.
Created	COUNTER element name. The date and time the usage was prepared, in RFC3339 date-time format (yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ssZ).
Created_By	COUNTER element name. The name of the organization or system that created the COUNTER report.
Crossref	A not-for-profit membership organization for publishers.
Customer	An individual or organization that can access a specified range of the report provider’s services and/or content that is subject to the agreed terms and conditions.
Customer_ID	The element in the COUNTER reports that indicates whose usage is being reported. May be a proprietary or standard value such as ISNI.	ISNI:000000012150090X
Data harvesting	Automated processes used for extracting data from websites.
Data_Repository	An online database service; an archive that manages the long-term storage and preservation of digital resources and provides a catalogue for discovery and access. A COUNTER Host_Type.	Figshare
Data_Type	The element identifying the type of content.	Article, Audiovisual, Book, Book_Segment, Conference, Conference_Item, Database_Aggregated, Database_AI, Database_Full, Database_Full_Item, Dataset, Image, Interactive_Resource, Journal, Multimedia, News_Item, Newspaper_Or_Newsletter, Other, Patent, Platform, Report, Reference_Item, Reference_Work, Report, Software, Sound, Standard, Thesis_Or_Dissertation, Unspecified
Database_Aggregated	An aggregated database of full text serial and/or monograph content, or content otherwise aggregated into titles. A COUNTER Data_Type applying only to Denial and Search metrics.
Database_AI	An fixed database of bibliographic metadata used for abstracting and indexing purposes. A COUNTER Data_Type applying only to Denial and Search metrics.
Database_Full	A non-aggregated database of full text serial and/or monograph content, or content otherwise not aggregated into titles. A COUNTER Data_Type applying only to Denial and Search metrics.
Database_Full_Item	An individual item of content held on a Full_Content_Database. A COUNTER Data_Type.
Database Report	A COUNTER report that contains additional filters and breakdowns beyond those included in the Standard Views of the Database Report and is aggregated to the database level.
Database Reports	A series of COUNTER reports that provide usage aggregated to the database level.
Dataset	Data encoded in a defined structure, for example data associated with a research project. A COUNTER Data_Type.
Delayed Open Access	See Open.
Digital Object Identifier	See DOI.
Discovery Layer	A web-accessible interface for searching, browsing, filtering, and otherwise interacting with indexed metadata and content. The searches produce a single, relevancy-ranked results set, usually displayed as a list with links to full content, when available. Typically, discovery layers are customizable by subscribing libraries and may be personalized by individual users.
Discovery service Discovery_Service	A pre-harvested central index coupled with a fully featured discovery layer. A COUNTER Host_Type.	EDS, Primo, Summon
Distributed Usage Logging (DUL)	A peer-to-peer channel for the secure exchange and processing of COUNTER-compliant private usage records from hosting platforms to publishers.
DNS lookups	Domain Name System lookups.
DOI (digital object identifier)	A standard identifier (ANSI/NISO Z39.84). The digital object identifier is a means of identifying a piece of intellectual property (a creation) on a digital network, irrespective of its current location. DOIs may be assigned at the title, article/chapter, or component level.
Double-click	Two clicks in succession on the same link by the same user within a period of 30 seconds. COUNTER requires that double-clicks must be counted as a single click.
Double-click filtering	A process to remove the potential of over-counting which could occur when a user clicks the same link multiple times. Double-click filtering applies to Total_Item and Access Denied Metric_Types.
DR	Database Report.
DR_D1	Database Search and Item Usage. A pre-set Standard View of DR showing Total_Item_Investigations and Requests, as well as Searches_Regular, Automated and Federated.
DR_D2	Database Access Denied. A pre-set Standard View of DR showing where users were denied access because simultaneous-use (concurrency) licenses were exceeded, or their institution did not have a license for the database.
DUL	See Distributed Usage Logging (DUL).
eBook	Monographic content that is published online. A COUNTER Host_Type.
eBook_Collection	A branded group of eBooks that can be subscribed to/licensed and searched as a complete group. A COUNTER Host_Type.
eBook host	A content host that provides access to eBook and reference work content.	EBL, EBSCOhost, ScienceDirect
EC	See Executive Committee.
eJournal	Serial content that is published online. A COUNTER Host_Type.
eJournal host	A content host that provides access to online serial publications (journals, conferences, newspapers, etc.).	ScienceDirect
Element	A piece of information to be reported on, displayed as a column heading (and/or in the report header) in a COUNTER report.
Embargo period	The period of time before an article is moved out from behind the paywall, i.e. from Controlled to Open.
End_Date	The last date in the range for the usage represented in a COUNTER report.
Enhanced Version of Record	A version of the Version of Record of a journal article that has been updated or enhanced by the provision of supplementary material. For example, multimedia objects such as audio clips and applets; additional XML-tagged sections, tables, or figures or raw data.
e-Resources	Electronic resources.
Exception	An optional element that may be included within a COUNTER report indicating some difference between the usage that was requested and the usage that is being presented in the report. An Exception includes the Exception Code and Exception Message and may include additional Data that further describes the error.	3031: Usage Not Ready for Requested Dates (request was for 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31, but usage is only available to 2024-08-31).
Exception Code	A unique numeric code included as part of an Exception that identifies the type of error.
Exception Message	A short description of the Exception encountered. The Message is normally a standard message for the Exception Code concerned. See Appendix D.
Exclude_Monthly_Details	A COUNTER report attribute for tabular reports that specifies whether the columns with the month-by-month breakdown of the usage are excluded from the report.
Executive Committee	The committee which deals with the day-to-day activities of COUNTER’s business.
Federated search	A search conducted by a federated search application that allows users to simultaneously search multiple content sources, typically hosted by different vendors, with a single query from a single user interface. The federated search application typically presents the user with a single set of results collected from the content sources searched. The end user is not responsible for selecting the content sources being searched. The content sources being searched will report such activity as Searches_Federated. See Appendix F.	MetaLib, EBSCOhost Connection
Filter	See Report filters.
Free_to_Read	A COUNTER Access_Type. At the time of the Request or Investigation the content item was available to all users on this platform, regardless of authorization status, but was not Open. The content item may or may not have been Controlled at some point in the past, and may or may not return to Controlled status in the future (e.g. promotional materials where these can be tracked by the platform, or archival content a publisher has made free to read).
Full_Content_Database	A COUNTER Host_Type for report providers that offer databases that are a collection of content items that are not aggregated into titles (i.e. not part of a serial or book or other title). Full_Content_Database may include but not be exclusively composed of multimedia content items.
Full-text article	The complete text - including all references, figures, and tables - of an article, plus links to any supplementary material published with it.
Full-text database	A database that contains the complete text of books,dissertations, journals, magazines, newspapers or other kinds of textual documents. [Wikipedia]
GDPR	General Data Protection Regulation.
Global Report	A report to “The World” including all global usage, whether attributed to an institution or not.
Global Database Report	A Database Report that is reporting all global usage to “The World”, whether attributed to an institution or not.
Global Item Report	An Item Report that is reporting all global usage to “The World”, whether attributed to an institution or not. Particularly valuable for reporting on usage of open access content.
Global Platform Report	A Platform Report that is reporting all global usage to “The World”, whether attributed to an institution or not.
Global Title Report	A Title Report that is reporting all global usage to “The World”, whether attributed to an institution or not.
Host	See Content host.	Ingenta, Semantico, SpringerLink
Host Site	See Content host.
Host_Type	A categorization of content hosts used by COUNTER to facilitate implementation of the Code of Practice. The Code of Practice identifies the Host_Types that apply to the various artefacts in the Code of Practice, allowing a content host to quickly identify the areas of the Code of Practice to implement by identifying the Host_Types that apply to them.	A&I_Database, Aggregated_Full_Content, Data_Repository, Discovery_Service, eBook, eBook_Collection, eJournal, Full_Content_Database, Multimedia, Multimedia_Collection, Repository, Scholarly_Collaboration_Network
Host UI	User interface that an end user would use to access content on the content host.
HTTP	Hypertext Transfer Protocol.
Hybrid publication	A publication that is available via a subscription license but also contains articles available as open access.
Image	A form of multimedia describing a static visual image. A COUNTER Data_Type.
Institution	The organization for which usage is being reported.
Institution_ID	A unique identifier for an institution. In COUNTER reports the Institution_ID is presented as a combination of the identifier namespace and its value. Proprietary identifiers that identify the content platform can be used.	ISNI:000000012150090X, EBSCOhost:s12345
Institution_Name	The element in the COUNTER reports that indicates the name of the institution.
Institutional identifier	See Institution_ID.
Interactive_Resource	A form of multimedia, typically describing materials that require user interaction to be understood, executed or experienced. A COUNTER Data_Type.
Internet robot, crawler, spider	Any automated program or script that visits websites and systematically retrieves information from them, often to provide indexes for search engines. See Appendix H.
Investigation	A category of COUNTER Metric_Types that represent a user accessing information related to a content item (e.g. an abstract or detailed descriptive metadata of an article) or a content item itself (e.g. full text of an article).
IP	Internet Protocol.
IP address	Internet protocol (IP) address of the computer on which the session is conducted. May be used by report providers as a means of authentication and authorization and for identifying the institution a user is affiliated with. The identifying network address (typically four 8-bit numbers separated by “.” for IPv4 or eight groups of up to four hexadezimal numbers separated by “:” for IPv6) of the user’s computer or proxy.
IR	Item Report.
IR_A1	Journal Article Requests. A pre-set Standard View of IR showing Total and Unique_Item_Requests for journal articles.
IR_M1	Multimedia Item Requests. A pre-set Standard View of IR showing Total_Item_Requests for multimedia items.
ISBN (International Standard Book Number)	A unique standard identifier (ISO 2108) used to identify monographic publications (books).
ISIL	International Standard Identifier for Libraries and Related Organizations (ISO 15511). In COUNTER reports ISILs can be used as identifiers for institutions.
ISNI	International Standard Name Identifier (ISO 27729). A unique number used to identify authors, contributors, and distributors of creative works, including researchers, inventors, writers, artists, visual creators, performers, producers, publishers, aggregators, etc. In COUNTER reports ISNIs can be used as identifiers for institutions, publishers and item contributors (authors).
ISO	International Organization for Standardization.
ISSN (International Standard Serial Number)	A unique standard identifier (ISO 3297) used to identify a print or electronic periodical publication. A periodical published in both print and electronic form may have two ISSNs, a print ISSN and an electronic ISSN.
Issue	A collection of journal articles that share a specific issue number and are presented as an identifiable unit online and/or as a physically bound and covered set of numbered pages in print.
Item	Collective term for content that is reported at a high level of granularity, e.g. a full-text article (original or a review of other published work), an abstract or digest of a full-text article, a sectional HTML page, supplementary material associated with a full-text article (e.g. a supplementary data set), or non-textual resources such as an image, a video, audio, a dataset, a piece of code, or a chemical structure or reaction.	Full-text article, Abstract, Database record, Dataset, Thesis
Item Report	A COUNTER report that provides usage data at the item or (at the discretion of the report provider) item-component level.
Item Reports	A series of COUNTER reports that provide usage data at the item or (at the discretion of the report provider) item-component level.
JavaScript Object Notation	See JSON.
Journal	A serial that is a branded and continually growing collection of original articles within a particular discipline. A COUNTER Data_Type.	Tetrahedron Letters
Journal Requests	Journal content items retrieved.
JQuery	A JavaScript library.
JSON	JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is an open standard file format that uses human-readable text to transmit data objects consisting of attribute–value pairs and array data types. [Wikipedia]
License	A contract or agreement that provides an organization or individual (licensee) with the right to access certain content.
Limit_Exceeded	A COUNTER Metric_Type. A user is denied access to a content item because the simultaneous-user limit for their institution’s license would be exceeded.
Log file analysis	A method of collecting usage data in which the web server records all of its transactions.
Master Reports	An older term for COUNTER reports.
Metadata	A series of textual elements that describes a content item but does not include the item itself. For example, metadata for a journal article would typically include publisher, journal title, volume, issue, page numbers, copyright information, a list of names and affiliations of the authors, author organization addresses, the article title and an abstract of the article, and keywords or other subject classifications.
Metadata provider	An organization, such as a publisher, that provides descriptive article/item-level metadata to an online search service.
Metric_Type	A COUNTER report attribute that identifies the nature of the usage activity.	Total_Item_Requests, Searches_Regular, Limit_Exceeded, Unique_Title_Requests
Monograph Text	See Book.
Multimedia	Non-textual media such as audio, images, video and interactive tools. Typically used as a Data_Type only where report providers cannot easily classify materials more specifically. A COUNTER Host_Type. A COUNTER Data_Type.
Multimedia collection Multmedia_Collection	A grouping of multimedia items that are hosted and searched as a single unit and behave like a database. A COUNTER Host_Type. See also Database.
Multimedia item	An item of non-textual media content such as an image or streaming or downloadable audio or video files. (Does not include thumbnails or descriptive text/metadata.)
Namespace	A term primarily used in programming languages where the same name may be used for different objects. It is created to group together those names that might be repeated elsewhere within the same or interlinked programs, objects and elements. For example, an XML namespace consists of element types and attribute names. Each of the names within that namespace is only related/linked to that namespace. The name is uniquely identified by the namespace identifier ahead of the name. For example, Namespace1:John and Namespace2:John are the same names but within different namespaces.
News_Item	An article from a newspaper or magazine, or a news piece available as a standalone piece of content available as a distinct item not aggregated into a title. A COUNTER Data_Type.
Newspaper_or_Newsletter	Textual content published serially in a newspaper or newsletter. A COUNTER Data_Type.	The Guardian
NISO	The National Information Standards Organization is a United States non-profit standards organization that develops, maintains and publishes technical standards related to publishing, bibliographic and library applications. [Wikipedia]
No_License	A COUNTER Metric_Type. A user is denied access to a content item because the user or the user’s institution does not have access rights under an agreement with the vendor.
OA	See Open Access.
OA_Gold	An Access_Type applied in Release 5. Now replaced with the broader Open.
Open	A COUNTER Access_Type. At the time of the Request or Investigation the content item was available to all users on this platform, regardless of authorization status, under an open access model. Open applies where the content provider asserts that the content is open access, irrespective of the license associated with the content item (that is, while the content item may be under a Creative Commons license this is not essential). Open content items may be in hybrid or fully open access publications. Open content items may have been Open from the day of publication, or after expiry of an embargo, but it is not intended to return to Controlled status.
Open Access	See Open.
OCLC	OCLC (Online Computer Library Center). An American non-profit cooperative organization “dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs”. It was founded in 1967 as the Ohio College Library Center. [Wikipedia]
Online_ISSN	A COUNTER report item identifier for the ISSN assigned to the online manifestation of a serial work. See also ISSN.	1533-4406
Open Access	Open Access (OA) refers to online research outputs that are free of all restrictions on access (e.g. access tolls) and free of many restrictions on use (e.g. certain copyright and license restrictions). Open access can be applied to all forms of published research output, including peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed academic journal articles, conference papers, theses, book chapters, and monographs. [Wikipedia]
ORCID	An international standard identifier for individuals (i.e. authors) to use with their name as they engage in research, scholarship, and innovation activities. See https://orcid.org/. A COUNTER identifier type for item contributors.
Other	A content item that has been labelled as a type of data that does not exist within and cannot be mapped to a COUNTER Data_Type. A COUNTER Data_Type.
Other_Free_to_Read	An Access_Type applied in a very limited way in Release 5. Now replaced with Free_To_Read.
Page tag	Page-tagging is a method of collecting usage data that uses, for example, JavaScript on each page to notify a third-party server when a page is rendered by a web-browser.
Parent	In COUNTER Item Reports the parent is the publication an item is part of. For a journal article, the parent is the journal, and for a book chapter it is the book.
Patent	A patent document representing an exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a product or process that provides (in general) a new way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a problem. Typically associated with a patent number. A COUNTER Data_Type.
Paywall	A term used to describe the fact that a user attempting to access a content item must be authorized by license or must pay a fee before the content can be accessed.
PDF	Portable Document Format, a standard file format for representing electronic documents (ISO 32000). Items such as full-text articles or journals published in PDF format tend to replicate the printed page in appearance.
PHP	PHP is a general-purpose programming language originally designed for web development. The PHP reference implementation is now produced by The PHP Group. [Wikipedia]
Platform	The content host of an aggregator, publisher, or other online service that delivers the content to the user and that counts and provides the COUNTER usage reports. Individual titles or groups of content might have their own branded user experience but reside on a common host. A COUNTER Data_Type.	Wiley Online Library, HighWire
Platform Report	A COUNTER report that contains additional filters and breakdowns beyond those included in the Standard Views of the Platform Report, and which is aggregated to the platform level.
Platform Reports	A series of COUNTER reports that provide usage aggregated to the platform level.
Platform search	A search conducted at the platform level.
Platform usage	Activity across all metrics for entire platforms.
PR	Platform Report.
PR_P1	Platform Usage. A pre-set Standard View of PR showing Total and Unique_Item_Requests and Unique_Title_Requests, as well as Searches_Platform.
Print_ISSN	A COUNTER report item identifier for the ISSN assigned to the print manifestation of a work. See also ISSN.	0028-4793
Proprietary_ID	A COUNTER report item identifier for a unique identifier given by publishers and other report providers to a product or collection of products.
Proprietary Identifier	See Proprietary_ID.
Publication date Publication_Date	The date of release by the publisher to customers of a content item. An element in COUNTER Item Reports.
Publisher	An organization whose function is to commission, create, collect, validate, host, distribute and trade information online and/or in printed form.	Sage, Cambridge University Press
Publisher_ID	An element in COUNTER reports for a publisher’s unique identifier. In COUNTER reports the Publisher_ID is presented as a combination of identifier namespace and value.
R4	Release 4.
R5	Release 5.
Reference_Item	An item or record within a Reference_Work, such as an encyclopedia reference, or a similar item not aggregated into a title. A COUNTER Data_Type.
Reference_Work	An authoritative source of information about a subject used to find quick answers to questions. The content may be stable or updated over time. A COUNTER Data_Type	Dictionary, encyclopedia, directory, manual, guide, atlas, index
References	A list of works referred to in an article or chapter with sufficient detail to enable the identification and location of each work.
Registry of compliance	The COUNTER Registry of report providers compliant with the COUNTER Code of Practice [Registry].
Regular	A COUNTER Access_Method. Indicates that usage was generated by a human user browsing/searching a website, rather than by text and data mining processes.
Regular search	A search conducted by a user on a host where the user has the option of selecting the databases being searched.
Release	Version of the COUNTER Code of Practice.
Report	A document that presents information in an organized format for a specific audience and purpose, such as a policy report. A COUNTER Data_Type.
Report attributes Report_Attributes	Report attributes are elements in COUNTER reports that describe the nature of usage for an item or affect how the usage is broken down. In COUNTER Reports the Report_Attributes report header includes a series of report attributes applied to the report. This affects how the usage is presented (i.e. which columns/elements are included in the report), but it does not change the totals.	Attributes_To_Show=Access_Type|YOP
Report consumer	An umbrella term referring to all those who make use of COUNTER reports, including librarians, consortia managers, publisher and aggregator staff, etc.
Report filters Report_Filters	Report filters can be used to limit the usage returned in a COUNTER report. For Standard Views of the COUNTER Reports the report filters are pre-set, for COUNTER Reports they can be used to customize the report. The Report_Filters report header includes a series of report filters applied to the report.	Data_Type=Journal
Report_ID	The alphanumeric identifier of a specific COUNTER Report or Standard View of a COUNTER Report.	PR, DR_D1, TR_J3
Report name Report_Name	The name of a COUNTER Report or Standard View of a COUNTER Report.	Journal Requests (Controlled)
Report provider	An umbrella term. Includes publishers, aggregators and others who directly provide access to content, as well as organizations that provide specialist reporting services on behalf of one or more organizations.	Science Direct, Clarivate, JSTOR, ScholarlyIQ
Report validation tool	See COUNTER Report Validation Tool.
Reporting period Reporting_Period	The total time period covered in a usage report.	Begin_Date=2024-01-01; End_Date=2024-06-30
Repository	A host who provides access to an institution’s research output. Includes subject repositories, institution, department, etc. A COUNTER Host_Type.	Cranfield CERES
Repository item Repository_Item	A content item hosted in a repository, including one that consists of one or more digital objects such as text files, audio, video or data, described by associated metadata. A COUNTER Data_Type.
Request	A category of COUNTER Metric_Types that represents a user accessing content (e.g. full text of an article).
Requestor ID	A system-generated hash identifier that uniquely identifies a requestor session.
Required reports	The COUNTER reports that Host_Types are required to provide.
Research data	Data that supports research findings and may include databases, spreadsheets, tables, raw transaction logs, etc.
RESTful COUNTER_SUSHI API	A RESTful implementation of SUSHI automation intended to return COUNTER Release 5 reports and snippets of COUNTER usage in JSON format. RESTful is based on representational state transfer (REST) technology, an architectural style and approach to communications often used in web services development.
Robot	See Internet robot, crawler, spider.
ROR (Research Organization Registry)	ROR is a community-led registry of open, sustainable, usable, and unique identifiers for every research organization in the world. [ROR]. In COUNTER reports ROR IDs can be used as identifiers for institutions and publishers.
Scholarly Collaboration Network Scholarly_Collaboration_Network	A service used by researchers to share information about their work. A COUNTER Host_Type.	Mendeley, Reddit/Science
Screen scraping	The action of using a computer program to copy data from a website.
Search	A user-driven intellectual query, typically equated to submitting the search form of the online service to the server. For COUNTER reports a search is counted any time a system executes a search to retrieve a new set of results. This means that systems that perform multiple searches (e.g. search for exact match, search for words in subject, general search) to return a single set of results must only count a single search, not multiple searches. Things that do count as separate searches: Bento-box or multi-tab user interfaces, where multiple searches are conducted to retrieve and present multiple result sets Refinement of a set of search results by faceting, where applying a facet or filter requires the search to be re-run Browsing through a topics list or subject authority file, where clicking on the topic or subject conducts a search to present a set of search results Note that link resolution never counts as a search.
Search engine	A service that allows users to search for content via the World Wide Web.
Searches_Automated	A COUNTER Metric_Type used to report on searches conducted on a host site or discovery service where multiple databases are searched simultaneously with a single query and the end user does not have the option of selecting the databases being searched. See also Automated search.
Searches_Federated	A COUNTER Metric_Type used to report on searches conducted by a federated search application. See Appendix F. See also Federated search.
Searches_Platform	A COUNTER Metric_Type used to report on searches conducted at the platform level. Note: Searches conducted against multiple databases on the platform will only be counted once.
Searches_Regular	A COUNTER Metric_Type used to report on searches conducted by a user on a host site where the user has the option of selecting the databases being searched. Note: If a search is conducted across multiple databases, each database searched will count that search. See also Regular search.
Section	A group of chapters or articles.
Section_Type	Defunct in R5.1. A COUNTER R5 report attribute that identified the type of section that was accessed by the user.	Article, Book, Chapter, Other
Serial	A publication in any medium issued in successive parts bearing numerical or chronological designations and intended to be continued indefinitely. This definition includes periodicals, journals, magazines, electronic journals, ongoing directories, annual reports, newspapers, monographic series, and also those journals, magazines, and newsletters of limited duration that otherwise bear all the characteristics of serials (e.g. newsletter of an event). [NISO]
Server-side scripting language	Server-side scripting is a technique used in web development which involves employing scripts on a web server which produce a response customized for each user’s request to the website. The alternative is for the web server itself to deliver a static web page. [Wikipedia]
Service	See Content host.	ScienceDirect, Academic Universe
Session	A successful use of an online service. A single user connects to the service or database and ends by terminating activity that is either explicit (by leaving the service through exit or logout) or implicit (timeout due to user inactivity). [NISO]
Session cookie	A data file that a web server can place on a browser to track activity by a user and attribute that usage to a session.
Session ID	A unique identifier for a single user session. If the report provider’s web-site does not assign and capture a unique identifier to each user session, then a surrogate session ID can be generated using the browser user-agent, the user’s IP address and a one hour time slice (see Section 7 for details). The Session ID is used for double-click filtering and computing Unique_Item and Unique_Title metrics.
Sites	See Hosts.
Software	Source code or compiled software, or a virtual notebook environment used for programming. A COUNTER Data_Type.
Sound	A form of multimedia, typically describing content that is audio-only (e.g. a radio programme). A COUNTER Data_Type.
Spider	See Internet robot, crawler, spider.
Standard	A document outlining processes agreed and established by authority or by general consent (e.g. materials from NISO). A COUNTER Data_Type.	The COUNTER Code of Practice
Standard View of a COUNTER Report	A predefined version of a COUNTER report, designed to meet the most common needs.	Book Requests (Controlled), Journal Article Requests
Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative	See SUSHI.
Status code	HTTP response status code. Status codes are issued by a server in response to a client’s request made to the server. [Wikipedia]
SUSHI	Short form for the COUNTER_SUSHI API used in COUNTER R5 for harvesting COUNTER reports. COUNTER compliance requires content hosts to implement the COUNTER_SUSHI API.
Tab Separated Value	See TSV.
TDM	Text and data mining (TDM) is a computational process whereby text or datasets are crawled by software that recognizes entities, relationships, and actions. [STM Publishers] A COUNTER Access_Method used to separate regular usage from usage that represents access to content for the purposes of text and data mining.
Text and data mining	See TDM.
The World	Used as the Institution_Name for global reports including all global usage, whether attributed to institutions or not.
Thesis_Or_Dissertation	Long-form writing on a specific subject, often involving personal research, and typically produced to meet requirements for postgraduate or undergraduate qualifications. A COUNTER Data_Type.
Title	The name of a book, journal, or reference work.
Title Report	A COUNTER report that contains additional filters and breakdowns beyond those included in the Standard Views of the Title Report and is aggregated to publication title level rather than towards individual articles/chapters.
Title Reports	A series of COUNTER reports where usage is aggregated to the publication title level.
TLS (HTTPS)	Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol, Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) protocol.
Total_Item_Investigations	A COUNTER Metric_Type that represents the number of times users accessed the content (e.g. a full text) of an item, or information describing that item (e.g. an abstract).
Total_Item_Requests	A COUNTER Metric_Type that represents the number of times users requested the full content (e.g. a full text) of an item. Requests may take the form of viewing, downloading, emailing, or printing content, provided such actions can be tracked by the report provider.
TR	Title Report.
TR_B1	Book Requests (Controlled). A pre-set Standard View of TR showing full text activity for all book and reference work content which is not Open or Free_To_Read.
TR_B2	Book Access Denied. A pre-set Standard View of TR showing where users were denied access because simultaneous-use (concurrency) licenses were exceeded, or their institution did not have a license for the book or reference work.
TR_B3	Book Usage by Access Type. A pre-set Standard View of TR showing all applicable Metric_Types broken down by Access_Type for books and reference works.
TR_J1	Journal Requests (Controlled). A pre-set Standard View of TR showing full text activity for all journal content which is not Open or Free_To_Read.
TR_J2	Journal Accessed Denied. A pre-set Standard View of TR showing where users were denied access because simultaneous-use licenses were exceeded, or their institution did not have a license for the journal.
TR_J3	Journal Usage by Access Type. A pre-set Standard View of TR showing all applicable Metric_Types broken down by Access_Type.
TR_J4	Journal Requests by YOP (Controlled). A pre-set Standard View of TR breaking down the full text usage of Controlled content by year of publication (YOP).
Transaction	A usage event.
TSV	A tab-separated values (TSV) file is a simple text format for storing data in a tabular structure, e.g. database table or spreadsheet data. Each record in the table is one line of the text file. Each field value of a record is separated from the next by a tab character. [Wikipedia]
Turnaway	See Access denied.
Unique item	A content item assessed during a session. Each unique content item accessed in a session is counted once per user session, even if there are multiple requests for the same content item during a session.
Unique_Item_Investigations	A COUNTER Metric_Type that represents the number of unique content items investigated in a user session. Examples of content items are articles, books, book chapters, and multimedia files.
Unique_Item_Requests	A COUNTER Metric_Type that represents the number of unique content items requested in a user session. Examples of content items are articles, books, book chapters, and multimedia files.
Unique title	A book assessed during a session. Each unique book title accessed in a session is counted once per user session, even if there are multiple requests for the same title during a session.
Unique_Title_Investigations	A COUNTER Metric_Type that represents the number of unique titles investigated in a user session. This Metric_Type is only applicable for Data_Types Book and Reference_Work.
Unique_Title_Requests	A COUNTER Metric_Type that represents the number of unique titles requested in a user session. This Metric_Type is only applicable for Data_Types Book and Reference_Work.
Unspecified	Content that cannot be classified by any of the other Data_Types due to lack of sufficient information. Note that content providers are expected to make all reasonable efforts to classify the content. A COUNTER Data_Type.
URI	In information technology, a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is a string of characters that unambiguously identifies a particular resource. To guarantee uniformity, all URIs follow a predefined set of syntax rules, but also maintain extensibility through a separately defined hierarchical naming scheme (e.g.http://). [Wikipedia] An element in COUNTER reports used to identify the item for which usage is being reported.
URL	Uniform Resource Locator. The address of a World Wide Web page.
URN	Uniform Resource Name, which identifies a resource by name in a particular namespace.
User	A person who accesses the online resource.
User agent	An identifier that is part of the HTTP protocol that identifies the software (e.g. browser) being used to access the site. May be used by robots to identify themselves.
User cookie	A small piece of data sent from a website and stored on the user’s computer by the user’s web browser while the user is browsing.
User session	See Session.
UTF-8	UTF-8 is a variable width character encoding capable of encoding all 1,112,064 valid code points in Unicode using one to four 8-bit bytes. The encoding is defined by the Unicode Standard, and was originally designed by Ken Thompson and Rob Pike. The name is derived from Unicode Transformation Format - 8-bit. [Wikipedia]
Vendor	A publisher or other online information provider who delivers licensed content to the customer and with whom the customer has a contractual relationship.	Taylor & Francis, EBSCO
Version of Record	A fixed version of a journal article that has been made available by any organization that acts as a publisher that formally and exclusively declares the article “published”.
W3C	The World Wide Web Consortium is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web. [Wikipedia]
XML	A mark-up language that defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. [Wikipedia]
Year of Publication	See YOP.
YOP	Year of publication. Calendar year in which an article, item, issue, or volume is published. For the COUNTER report attribute YOP, use the year of publication for the Version of Record if the year of publication differs for print and online version.
Z39.50	An international standard protocol created by NISO for search. A Z39.50 client can search any Z39.50-compatible online service. Often used by federated search applications to facilitate searching content at other sites.