COUNTER Newsletter, July 2025
25 July 2025We sent out the latest COUNTER newsletter today. Here’s what we said
It’s been a whirlwind since our last newsletter, so we have lots to tell you about. The COUNTER Conference and AGM in June was extremely well attended, and we’ve since sent out the videos to all registrants. The first module of the first COUNTER Academy course is wrapping up as I type (we have a form to register interest for the COUNTER Academy in 2026). Tasha’s been busy creating conference submissions for events in 2026 (eek!). And our new Advisory Committee has hit the ground running, with two best practice working groups already well into the weeds of their different topics. You can find out more below.
All the best
Tasha and Siân
The COUNTER Validator
In early June we invited our community to be part of the public beta for the new Validator. The same day, Beda Kosata gave a live demo of the Validator at the Conference. Click on the link for this news piece to watch the video.
The beta test has been really successful, which means we’re shutting down the old validation tool at the end of July, as previously announced.
If you’ve not already registered for the Validator, visit validator.countermetrics.org and sign up today. The tool is free for everyone to use.
Working groups on AI and pathways to compliance
The new Advisory Committee met for the first time in June and agreed to set up two working groups straight away.
The first group is on generative and agentic AI, which touches on questions of how we can and should define human versus non-human usage.
The second group is looking at pathways to compliance. That is, if and how COUNTER can make it possible for small, non-Code-compliant publishers to start offering some form of COUNTER reporting.
We’ll be keeping you informed of progress with both groups. And of course, the best practice guidance they produce will be subject to community consultation before we publish.
Important membership changes for 2026
COUNTER’s membership structure has stayed broadly the same since we were founded back in 2003. Over that time the knowledge community has undergone huge structural changes. As part of our 2023–2028 strategy we are making some changes to membership tiering and introducing a suite of new member benefits. The membership approved the changes at the 2025 AGM, and we’ll be implementing them for the 2026 membership year.
You can read more in the news piece at countermetrics.org/member-changes, and we’ll be updating the main Members page during September.
Key points:
- Changes are cost-neutral for library members.
- New Technology Provider and Publisher Affiliate member types means they take on a fairer share of the financial support for COUNTER.
- Lots of new benefits introduced in the last 18 months and more to come.
Build your knowledge: Exception codes
We’ve had a couple of recent tech support posts about exceptions in the COUNTER API: