ABOUT COUNTER
We were founded in 2003 to resolve a problem: every publishing platform was reporting usage differently.
For 21 years we’ve remained true to our mission to bring the knowledge community together to agree and adopt a global standard for measuring and reporting content usage through normalised metrics.
Over that time the Code has evolved significantly to address the changing nature of digital content and to meet the needs of librarians, consortia, publishers, aggregators and other stakeholders who rely on COUNTER metrics.
We are a not-for-profit organisation financially sustained by our global community of members, including libraries, consortia, publishers, aggregators, and technology providers. Many of our members also help COUNTER through their efforts as volunteers, contributing to our governance, development of the Code of Practice, and our outreach and education activities.
Our Strategy
Our mission is to bring the knowledge community together to agree and adopt the global standard for measuring and reporting content usage through normalised metrics.
Our People
COUNTER is a community-led organisation, which means that our team is supported by a wonderful group of people who volunteer their time and expertise to keep us on track.
Latest News
Free to read?
We’ve had a couple of messages asking about one particular change in Release 5.1. This…
It’s time to renew your membership for 2025
It’s membership renewal time! This week we have sent out emails to the main finance…
Interview: David Sommer, Chair of COUNTER Executive Committee
In the first of a new series of occasional posts to get to know people…
Video: Privacy and COUNTER Usage Data
People often ask us about privacy and COUNTER usage data. In this video Tasha explains…
COUNTER Newsletter, September 2024
COUNTER newsletter for September 2024 includes Release 5.1 news, new validation tool, focus groups and ways to get involved.
Conference video: Introduction to COUNTER audits
Learn about COUNTER audits in this introductory video from the 2024 COUNTER conference. The questions…
Survey shows continued happiness with COUNTER
The COUNTER community continues to be happy with COUNTER. In our latest satisfaction survey 86%…
Find us at: Plan S and Beyond for Publishers and Societies
Tasha will be chairing the Plan S and Beyond for Publishers and Societies seminar on…
Code of Practice for Research Data
The COUNTER team has migrated the Code of Practice for Research Data from PDF format…
COUNTER is leaving X
From the end of September COUNTER is leaving X (formerly known as Twitter). In the…
Learn about COUNTER’s supporters and become a sponsor
Over the 21 years of COUNTER’s existence we have benefitted from the generous support of…
Out of office – please be patient!
Tasha is going to be travelling from the 5th to the 19th of September. This…
Release 5.1 Validation Tool
We are extremely pleased to announce that we have updated the COUNTER Validation Tool to…
Find us at: ALPSP Conference 2024
Tasha will be at the ALPSP Conference & Awards 2024 from the 11th to the…
Guest post: COUNTER API (sushi) validation
In this guest post, Beda Kosata from our partner Big Dig Data, the developers of…
Best practice guidance: syndicated usage
Our new best practice guidance focuses on syndicated usage. COUNTER has always tried to reflect…
Join a COUNTER focus group
We are starting focus groups to gather the views of the COUNTER community on key…
Find us at: OASPA Conference 2024
Tasha will be at the ALPSP Conference & Awards 2024 from the 16th to the…
COUNTER on the Scholarly Kitchen
Read the interview between COUNTER’s Executive Director and the Scholarly Kitchen’s Alice Meadows, from April 2024.
COUNTER guides are in six languages
We’re regularly told that the COUNTER community values our Friendly Guides – but did you…
Thank you for feedback on syndicated usage policy
Thank you to everyone who provided feedback on our recent policy consultation on syndicated usage.…
Conference Video: Code of Practice for Research Data
If you’ve heard about the public consultation about merging the Code of Practice for Research…
COUNTER API (sushi) server for R5.1
The Celus team have updated their demo COUNTER API (sushi) server to support Release 5.1 of the COUNTER Code of Practice.
Find us at: Make Data Count Summit
Tasha is going to be attending the Make Data Count Summit on the 5th and…
First COUNTER conference attracts positive feedback
In conference feedback, 86% of respondents rated it very good or excellent, but asked for more introductory topics. We take a look at what you said about the first COUNTER conference.
Satisfaction survey
Our annual satisfaction survey is now open – please let us know how we’re doing…
COUNTER Newsletter, June 2024
You might have noticed that the COUNTER team has had a busy few months, with…
COUNTER Commits to the Principles of Open Scholarly Infrastructure
COUNTER is a community-led organisation and our Code of Practice is the industry standard for…
COUNTER Validation Tool: Request for Proposals
Our Validation Tool is an essential service to the community, helping publishers and libraries validate…
Annual General Meeting 2024
The Directors’ Reports, including financial accounts, and the draft minutes from our Annual General Meeting…
Reflections on the first COUNTER conference
Tasha and Siân reflect on our first ever COUNTER Conference, which was held last Thursday.
Find us at: publisherspeak UK 2024
Tasha is going to be at the publisherspeak UK 2024 conference on the 21st of…
Consultation: Code of Practice for Research Data
Background The COUNTER Code of Practice for Research Data provided a key milestone in data…
Policy Consultation: Syndicated Usage
We know that content syndication is becoming ever-more popular, and that means COUNTER needs to…
Introducing COUNTER Metrics
COUNTER has been around since 2003, and we’ve always been known as Project COUNTER. That’s…
Infra Finder: a new hub for open infrastructure and standards
Invest in Open Infrastructure (IOI) has launched their latest tool, Infra Finder, which is foster…
Annual General Meeting and COUNTER Conference 2024
We will be holding our Annual General Meeting online on Thursday 16 May 2024 at…
COUNTER Newsletter, March 2024
We are nearly three months into 2024 so it is time for another COUNTER newsletter.…
COUNTER Conference: Call for Speakers
As we shared with you in December, we are running our first ever COUNTER Conference…
Welcome to Siân Harris
We’re absolutely delighted to welcome Siân Harris on board as our new Communications and Engagement…
Happy Holidays from COUNTER
It’s December, which means holiday season is upon us, which in turn means the COUNTER…
COUNTER Release 5.1: What You Need To Know
If you missed the recent webinar on Release 5.1: what you need to know, don’t…
COUNTER Newsletter, September 2023
September always feels like back-to-school season, and in this edition of the COUNTER newsletter I’ve…
COUNTER Newsletter, June 2023
How is it already June? After the excitement of Release 5.1 going live, and of…
Annual General Meeting 2023
The Directors’ Reports, including financial accounts, and the draft minutes from our 2023 Annual General…
Release 5.1 is Live
I’m delighted to let you know that after eighteen months of planning, public consultation, and…
COUNTER Newsletter, March 2023
It’s been a very busy few months, which means lots of news! You’ll find information…
COUNTER Newsletter, December 2022
As we close in on the end of 2022, the COUNTER team wishes you all…
Community Feedback on COUNTER Release 5.1
During summer 2022 we sent out a community consultation for Release 5.1 of the COUNTER…
COUNTER Newsletter, August 2022
It’s been a while since our last newsletter but the COUNTER team have been beavering…
Annual General Meeting 2022
The Directors’ Reports, including financial accounts, and the draft minutes from our 2022 Annual General…
Case study: analysing the ‘Big Deal’ using COUNTER Reports
Expenditure on ‘big deals’ accounts for a large part of library acquisition budgets, and in…
Case study: the value of COUNTER data to content and platform providers
In this case study, a variety of publishers, aggregators and technology providers share how they…
Case study: Strategic use of COUNTER data
COUNTER usage data is an important tool in a library’s data warehouse, not only in…
Case study: COUNTER data and big deals at the University of Liverpool
Jeff Woods, Usage Analyst in Libraries, Museums and Galleries at the University of Liverpool, developed…
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