Who knows what, when? Current and desired capacities for online journal statistics gathering and dissemination: The Session Blog
Friday, July 10, 2009 @ 9:30
SFU Harbour Centre (Earl & Jennie Lohn Rm 7000)
Presenters:
Andrea Kosavic (Digital Initiatives Librarian at York University)
James MacGregor (PKP Associate)
Session Overview
James MacGregor and Andrea Kosavic outline their efforts to provide a suitable recommendation to Synergies Canada on what they should provide in terms of statistics and to whom based on a survey of current and desired practices in online journals. Kosavic explained that her interest in participating in this study stemmed from having multiple statistics requests at once at York and being overwhelmed by the lack of a streamlined method of reporting this information.
Commentary
In trying to establish a recommendation to Synergies Canada regarding what statistics should be collected and shared, Kosavic and MacGregor proceeded to:
1) establish what is currently supported or lacking.
2) survey journals and repository holders to see what they actually need.
3) draw up recommendations.
Using Open Journal Systems (“OJS”) and Erudit Consortium as targets for recommendations, the following was initially noted:
– they do not share common statistics collection;
– both can capture the number of items viewed per month (with the help of external software);
– other statistics are difficult to capture; and
– both have reporting functionalities.
Key questions were asked of respondents in order to frame findings with 75% of respondents claimed that their current statistics collecting solution was not satisfactory.
Key findings include:
– 51% of OJS users utilize the built in reporting tool.
– 30% of respondents use 2 or more tools.
– Identifiying the number of “unique visitors” was deemed the most important statistic.
– Web pages accessed and page clicks were identified as the most collected statistics.
– RSS feed information was identified as the least collected statistic.
– Statistic collection ranged from monthly to quarterly to yearly with no significant majority.
In regards to the sharing of statistical information, the survey indicates that a significant gap exists between who journals are currently sharing statistics with and who they anticipate sharing statistics with.
Kosavic and MacGregor learned that there appeared to be no ideal statistical management system. The speakers were asked by someone in the audience about whether or not it will be possible to tell whether or not an end user is actually reading an article and if so, how much and what is being cited (if anything). MacGregor explained that this statistic was not collected and that there is currently no way to track this information; another member of the audience compared it to trying to be able to track how much of a book a library patron read. Ultimately this would be ideal to be able to track but unrealistic in the near future. It was also noted that referrer statistics were not included in the survey, that is, information related to how viewers came to find a journal site/article.
Recommendations for statistical gathering and disseminating:
– should standardize on 3rd party reporting across all nodes;
– use SUSHI protocol to collect statistics;
– implement COUNTER protocol to collect statistics;
– extend COUNTER to cover other Synergies items.
At different points in the presentation, MacGregor showed a different visual representation based on his gradually refining understanding of current and desired capabilities and the flow of statistical dissemination. This was helpful in demonstrating that initially there were many complicated methods of statistic collection and possibilities but eventually, with greater understanding, MacGregor was able to illustrate an easy to understanding model for statistic management.
(Figure 1.0 – Final visual representation representing a steamlined view of the dissemination of statistical information)
Stakeholders, statistics desired and relevant protocols have been identified and the final report is in the process of being completed.
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