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KE is a co-operative effort between JISC, SURF, DEFF and DFG. International interoperability guidelines for the comparable exchange of usage data is one of these co-operative efforts.

h1. Document information

| *Title:* KE Usage Statistics Guidelines \\
*Subject:* Usage Statistics,  Guidelines, Repositories, Publications, Research Intelligence \\
*Moderator:* Peter Verhaar ([KE Usage Statistics Work Group|standards:KE Usage Statistics Guidelines Work group]) \\
*Version:* 0.9.5 \\
*Date published:* 2010-05-18 \\
*Excerpt*: {excerpt}Guidelines for the exchange of usage statistics from a repository to a central server using OpenURL Context Objects via OAI-PMH and OpenURL Context Objectsor SUSHI.{excerpt}
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(Optional information) \\
*Type:* Guidelines, [info:eu-repo/semantics/technicalDocumentation |http://purl.org/info:eu-repo/semantics/technicalDocumentation]\\
*Format:* html/text \\
*Identifier:* [http://purl.org/REP/standards/KE Usage Statistics Guidelines] \\
*Language:* EN \\
*Rights:* CC-BY \\
*Tags:*{page-info:labels}\\ |

Abstract

Guidelines for the exchange of usage statistics from a repository to a central server using OAI-PMH and OpenURL Context Objects.

Abstract

Guidelines for the exchange of usage statistics from a repository to a central server using OAI-PMH and OpenURL Context Objects.

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Virtually all web servers that provide access to electronic resources record usage events as part of their log files. Such files usually provide detailed information on the documents that have been requested, on the users that have initiated these requests, and on the moments at which these requests took place. One important difficulty is the fact that these log files are usually structured according to a proprietary format. Before usage data from different institutions can be compared in a meaningful and consistent way, the log entries need to be standardised and normalised. Various projects have investigated how such data harmonisation can take place. In the MESUR project, usage data have been standardised by serialising the information from log files into XML files structured according to the OpenURL Context Objects schema (Bollen and Van de Sompel, 2006). This same standard is recommended in the JISC Usage Statistics Final Report. Using this metadata standard, it becomes possible to set up an infrastructure in which usage data are aggregated within a network of distributed repositories. The PIRUS-I project (Publishers and Institutional Repository Usage Statistics), which was funded by JISC, has investigated how such exchange of usage data can take place. An important outcome of this project was a range of scenarios for the "creation, recording and consolidation of individual article usage statistics that will cover the majority of current repository installations" "Developing a global standard to enable the recording, reporting and consolidation of online usage statistics for individual journal articles hosted by institutional repositories, publishers and other entities (Final Report)", p.3. <http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/pals3/pirus_finalreport.pdf>.

In Europe, at least three four projects have experimented with these recommendations and have actually implemented an infrastructure for the central accumulation of usage data: The German OA-Statistics <http://www.dini.de/projekte/oa-statistik

1. PIRUS is a project which aims to develop COUNTER-compliant usage reports at the individual article level that can be implemented by any entity (publisher, aggregator, IR, etc.,) that hosts online journal articles. The project will enable the usage of research outputs to be recorded, reported and consolidated at a global level in a standard way. 
2. Te German OA-Statistics <http://www.dini.de/projekte/oa-statistik/> project, which is funded DINI (Deutsche Initiative für Netzwerk Information), has set up an infrastructure in which various certified repositories across Germany can exchange their usage data.
3. In the Netherlands, the project Statistics on the Usage of Repositories <http://www.surffoundation.nl/nl/projecten/Pages/SURE.aspx> (SURE) has a very similar objective. The project, which is funded by SURFfoundation, aimed to find a method for the creation of reliable and mutually comparable usage statistics and has implemented a national infrastructure for the accumulation of usage data.

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2. The Network of European Economists Online <http://www.neeoproject.eu/> (NEEO) is an international consortium of 18 universities which maintains a subject repository that provides access to the results of economic research. As part of this project, extensive guidelines have been developed for the creation of usage statistics. NEEO has also developed an aggregator for usage statistics. The central database is exposed via a web service which can provide information on the number of downloads for each publication.

Whereas these three four projects all make use of the OpenURL Context Object standard, some subtle differences have emerged in the way in which this standard is actually used. Nevertheless, it is important to ensure that statistics are produced in exactly the same manner, since, otherwise, it would be impossible to compare metrics produced by different projects. With the support of Knowledge Exchange, a collaborative initiative for leading national science organisations in Europe, an initiative was started to align the technical specifications of these various projects. This document is a first proposal for international guidelines for the accumulation and the exchange of usage data. The proposal is based on a careful comparison of the technical specifications that have been developed by these three projects.

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This results in the schema for SURE. See figure 2. The context of this document is limited to the usage data, as sent from the institutional repository to the log harvester.

Image AddedImage Removed
Figure 2.

4. Data format

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A distinction will be made between the core set and extensions. Data in the core set can be recorded using standard elements or attributes that are defined in the OpenURL Context Object schema. The extensions are created to record aspects of usage events which cannot be captured using the official schema. They have usually been defined in the context of individual projects to meet very specific demands. Nevertheless, some of the extensions may be relevant for other projects as well. They are included here to inform the usage statistics community what additional information could be made available. Naturally, the implementation of all the extension elements are is optional.

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Occurences of child elements in Occurences of child elements in <context-object>

Within a <context-object> element, the following subelements can be used:

4.1.2. <referent>

4.1.2. <referent>

The <referent> element must provide information on the document that is requested. More specifically, it must record the following data elements.

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4.1.4. <requester>

The user who has sent the request for the file is identified in the <requester> element.

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the privacy sufficiently warrant further research by legal advisors. The IP address of the requester is pseudonymised using encryptions, before it is exchanged and taken outside the web-server to another location. Therefore individual users can be recognised when aggregated from distributed repositories, but cannot be referred back to a 'natural person'. This method may seem consisted with the European Act for Protection of Personal data. The summary can be found here: ? http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/information_society/l14012_en.htmImage Added . Further legal research needs to be done if this method is sufficient to protect the personal data of a 'natural person', in order to operate within the boundaries of the law.

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<requested/identifier> | C-class Subnet

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