COUNTER report

COUNTER (Counting Online Usage of NeTworked Electronic Resources) is an international non-profit organization launched in 2002 to improve the reliability of online usage statistics for electronic publications. COUNTER’s Code of Practice enables publishers and vendors to report usage statistics in a consistent, credible and comparable way.

J-STAGE was the first Japanese platform to be compliant with COUNTER, at the end of 2006. J-STAGE compliant with COUNTER Release 5 (hereafter "R5") on April 20, 2019.
After that J-STAGE compliant with COUNTER Release 5.1 (hereafter "R5.1") on January 30, 2025.

COUNTER reports enable universities and other institutions to analyze their usage of content, track changes in usage over time, and compare usage of different titles.

J-STAGE provides COUNTER reports for selected titles. Please refer to the Titles Participating in J-STAGE COUNTER Report Service (PDF) for a complete list of participating titles. Reports are provided only to users from registered institutions. Usage is tracked from each institution’s IP address, which is requested at the time of registration.

J-STAGE provides the following R5.1-compliant reports:

• Platform Report (PR)

  A user-customizable report of overall usage of J-STAGE.

• Platform Usage (PR_P1)

  Overall usage of J-STAGE by metric type.

• Title Report (TR)

  A user-customizable report of usage of each title.

• Journal Requests (Controlled) (TR_J1)

  Usage by specific metric type (total item requests, unique item requests), excluding "Open" and "Free_To_Read" contents.

• Access Denied by Journal (TR_J2)

  Unsuccessful (access denied) requests by title.

• Journal Usage by Access Type (TR_J3)

  Usage of full-text articles by access type.

• Journal Requests by Year of Publication (Controlled) (TR_J4)

  Usage by year of publication, excluding "Open" and "Free_To_Read" contents.

To access COUNTER reports on J-STAGE, you need an account with the J-STAGE COUNTER Report Service. To register for an account, visit the J-STAGE COUNTER Report Service page, click on ‘Register’, and fill out the form. Please note that accounts are restricted to people with responsibility for journal subscriptions at universities and other institutions. Individual users of J-STAGE are not eligible for an account.

Usage is recorded from the date of registration, and the first monthly COUNTER report will be available at the end of the following month. Registered users are notified by email when the current month’s report is available for download.

Usage is based on IP address. If your institution’s IP address changes, please update your information by signing in to your account on the J-STAGE COUNTER Report Service page. Usage from the new IP address will be recorded from the time of the update.

COUNTER_SUSHI API is a Web API for collecting COUNTER reports.
J-STAGE provides COUNTER_SUSHI API that complies with COUNTER R5.1.
You can use COUNTER_SUSHI API by registering an account.
For instructions on how to use the COUNTER SUSHI API, please refer to the "Report (R5.1), SUSHI Document (PDF, in Japanese)".

COUNTER Report Service Terms and Conditions

Titles Participating in J-STAGE COUNTER Report Service (PDF)

User Manual for J-STAGE COUNTER Report Service (PDF, in Japanese)

Report (R5), SUSHI Document (PDF, in Japanese)

Report (R5.1), SUSHI Document (PDF, in Japanese)

J-STAGE COUNTER ReleaseNotes (PDF)

Frequently asked questions about COUNTER are listed in this FAQ page. If you need help, please refer to this page first.