COUNTER Reports: The analytical framework
COUNTER R5.1 defines four main report categories that support flexible filtering and data exploration. These reports allow librarians to create customized views based on metrics, access type, item type, and date ranges.
At Springer Nature, we offer three main report types:
- TR (Title Report) – for journals, books, and title‑level trends
- PR (Platform Report) – for holistic platform performance
- DR (Database Report) – for evaluating indexing and database products
Why this matters for analysis
Each report surfaces data at a different granularity. For example:
- Use TR to compare usage of specific journals or books across years.
- Use DR to assess usage of our databases.
- Use PR to understand overall platform level engagement
All three support strategic renewal and new content licensing decisions and evidence‑based resource management.
Standard Views: Off-the-shelf analytical starting points
Standard Views are pre‑configured, ready-to-use versions of the full COUNTER Reports. They apply predefined filters, designed around common library assessment needs.
| Report Type | Standard view ID | Description | What the standard view helps with? |
|---|---|---|---|
PR | PR_P1 | Platform Usage | Helps you understand overall engagement with a vendor's platform by summarizing total platform‑level usage activity, useful for evaluating broad platform value. |
DR | DR_D1 | Database Search & Item Usage | Helps assess how effectively patrons use a database, showing searching and item usage, which is crucial for evaluating discovery performance and database relevance |
| DR_D2 | Database Access Denied | Helps identify licensing limitations or authentication issues by reporting when users attempted but failed to access database content. |
TR – Books | TR_B1 | Book Requests (Controlled) | Helps measure demand for book titles by showing successful, controlled full‑content book requests. |
| TR_B2 | Book Access Denied | Helps detect unmet demand or access problems for book content by capturing denied access attempts. |
| TR_B3 | Book Usage by Access Type | Helps analyse how users access book content, distinguishing between controlled, free to read and open access, which supports collection and OA strategy decisions. |
TR – Journals | TR_J1 | Journal Requests (Controlled) | Helps track demand for journal titles by reporting successful controlled requests, supporting renewal and cost‑per‑use evaluations. |
| TR_J2 | Journal Access Denied | Helps diagnose access or licensing gaps for journals by showing denied access attempts. |
| TR_J3 | Journal Usage by Access Type | Helps analyse how users access journal content, distinguishing between controlled, free to read and open access, which supports collection and OA strategy decisions. |
| TR_J4 | Journal Requests by Year of Publication (Controlled) | Helps analyse usage by publication year, which supports decisions on backfile purchases and archival investments. |
Total versus Unique Metrics
COUNTER reports use Total and Unique metrics to show different dimensions of usage, based on how activity is counted within a user session.
Total Metrics
Total metrics count all qualifying actions recorded in COUNTER reports, including repeated interactions with the same item during a single user session.
Use Total metrics when you need to understand the overall volume of activity recorded on a platform, database, or title, or when analysing trends in total usage over time.
Unique Metrics
Unique metrics count each distinct item or title only once per user session, even if it is accessed multiple times during that session.
Use Unique metrics when you want to understand how many different items or titles were used, support cost‑per‑use analysis, or compare usage across platforms.