Please note: Once your account has moved to the Infobase Platform, the COUNTER usage is logged within the Infobase Platform resource placard and no longer in the legacy resource placard. This may give the appearance that reporting has suddenly decreased to zero in the legacy reporting area. You can view reports moving forward in the Infobase Platform placard, or view combined reports at https://admin.infobase.com/Reports/CounterSummary.
Jump to:
- Downloading Usage Reports
- Changing the Reporting Period
- Setting Email Alerts
- COUNTER5 Report Types
- COUNTER5 Metrics Terms
- SUSHI Reports (opens a new page)
- COUNTER Compliance Statement
- Frequently Asked Questions
To watch a short video on your COUNTER report options, click here:
Downloading Usage Reports:
- Log into the Admin Portal. Login credentials are available to authorized admins upon request to productsupport@infobase.com.
- Under the resource placard "Infobase Platform," look for the option "Reports"
- Under COUNTER, click "Go to Report". The default is the COUNTER Platform Master (PR) report for the previous 12 months. If there is no usage for the period, there will be an error message. If you do not see the COUNTER option, check your account settings to make sure COUNTER is enabled.
- On the report page, you can adjust the time period, report type, and other metrics. See the definitions section below for more information on these options. The report type can be selected using the drop-down menu at the center of the report header:
- To download a report, click "Download" in the right header menu. This will download a file in xslx format to your default location (typically the download folder) with a name like this:
29940014-YourLibraryName-pr-202209-202309
Changing the Reporting Period:
The default reporting period is the previous 12 months (for example, in June 2026, the period is May 2025 - May 2026). To change the period, click on the date range in the left header menu:
The "Quick Set" menu on the left are some pre-defined periods, such as year to date. The middle menu represents the start date of a custom period. The right menu represents the end date of a custom period. In the image above, if you wanted to see just usage from April 2026, you would change the year from 2025 to 2026 and select April, then click "View."
Setting Email Alerts:
To set up automated usage emails, click the "Alerts" button in the upper right header, then click "Add Alert" in the upper right. Add your email under "To", select a period, and choose the report type. Under Advanced options, you can set the subject and body of the automated email. These emails usually come well into the next month (ie, April 2026 arrives mid-May 2026).
COUNTER5 Report Types
Platform Reports
- PR (Platform Master Report)
A customizable report summarizing activity across a content provider’s platforms that allows the user to apply filters and select other configuration options. -
PR_P1 (Platform Usage)
Platform-level usage summarized by metric type. The report shows total and unique item requests, unique title requests, and platform searches.
Database Reports
- DR (Database Master Report)
A customizable report detailing activity by database that allows the user to apply filters and select other configuration options. - DR_D1 (Database Search and Item Usage)
Reports on key searches, investigations and requests metrics needed to evaluate a database. The report shows regular and federated searches, and total item investigations and requests.
Item Reports
- IR (Item Master Report)
A granular, customizable report showing activity at the level of the item (article, chapter, media object, etc.) that allows the user to apply filters and select other configuration options. -
IR_M1 (Multimedia Item Requests)
Reports on multimedia requests at the item level.
COUNTER5 Metric Terms
Investigations: A category of COUNTER metric types that represent a user accessing information related to a content item (i.e. an abstract or detailed descriptive metadata of an article) or a content item itself (i.e. full text of an article).
Requests: A category of COUNTER Metric Types that represents a user accessing content (i.e. full text of an article). Requests are recorded where record views were recorded in COUNTER4, and are also treated as investigations.
‘Total_Item_Requests’ represents the number of times users requested the full content (i.e. full text) of an item. Requests may take the form of viewing, downloading, emailing, or printing content provided such actions can be tracked by the content provider’s server.
‘Unique_Item_Requests’ represents the number of unique content items investigated in a user-session. Examples of items are articles, book chapters, and multimedia files.
‘Unique_Title_Requests’ represents the number of unique titles requested in a user session. Examples of titles are journals and books.
‘Total_Item_Investigations’ represents the total number of times a content item or information related to a content item was accessed.
‘Unique_Item_Investigations’ represents the number of unique "Content Items" investigated in a user-session.
‘Unique_Title_Investigations’ represents the number of unique titles requested in a user session. Examples of titles are journals and books.
'Searches_Platform' represents the searches conducted on a platform.
Definitions from https://cop5.projectcounter.org/en/5.1/appendices/a-glossary-of-terms.html
SUSHI Reports
Information on running SUSHI reports can be found here: Running Stats with SUSHI
For further assistance, or to retrieve your SUSHI credentials, please email productsupport@infobase.com
COUNTER Compliance Statement
Infobase, through its partnership with LibLynx, is fully COUNTER compliant and is listed in the online registry of COUNTER Compliant Platforms. Infobase supports COUNTER 5.1 report formats along with offering SUSHI harvesting.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How are searches counted?
Every query entered in the search box is counted as one search. This shows 20 results by default, and every additional results page viewed is counted as one additional search. For example, if a user searches for DNA, then clicks "next" at the bottom of the search results page 3 times, the search count for “DNA” would be 4.
- How are entries counted?
Every entry viewed during a session is counted. If an entry is displayed or saved multiple times in a session, each event will be counted.
- How quickly are statistics available?
Statistics are updated every 24 hours. Usage today will be downloadable tomorrow. However, the COUNTER reports are not officially finalized until the next month and may change slightly prior to that time.
- What does it mean if a month is unavailable in the stats timeline?
This means that there was no recorded usage for this period -if this is the case, please contact productsupport@infobase.com for usage troubleshooting and promotional ideas.
- What does it mean if a title or video we have access to does not show in the title report?
This means that there was no recorded usage for this title in this period.
- How long does Infobase keep usage statistics?
COUNTER 5.1 reports are available from January 2025. Reports prior to this time can be requested from productsupport@infobase.com.