Usage reports
Usage metrics can be used alongside other indicators to understand the value of digital resources. Elsevier supplies customers with usage reports for most of their products. Several of Elsevier’s products supply customers with COUNTER-compliant usage reports.
COUNTER-compliant usage reports for ScienceDirect, Scopus, Engineering Village, Embase and ClinicalKey can be accessed via Elsevier Product Insights for Customers (E-PIC) opens in new tab/window and SUSHI opens in new tab/window.
Your COUNTER reports are available in E-PIC To simplify the access to our customer reporting we have selected E-PIC to become the central location for downloading usage reports and SUSHI for automated API delivery. Beyond COUNTER reports, E-PIC provides an extensive set of insights for your institution.
Elsevier Product Insights for Customers (E-PIC) - Institutional insights dashboard
Elsevier Product Insights for Customers (E-PIC) opens in new tab/window offers you a free and unique view on your institution's engagement with research content and tools and is the central location for downloading usage reports. The dashboard can also help you explore gaps in your portfolio, gain information to promote the adoption of tools and find out where your institution is trending.
You can use E-PIC to download COUNTER usage reports and get usage insights on your products.
The E-PIC dashboard can be accessed by administrative account holders using their normal Admin Tool login details. Watch this video tutorial opens in new tab/window on how to sign up.
If you have questions or need technical support for E-PIC, please visit the support hub opens in new tab/window.
COUNTER reports
COUNTER opens in new tab/window is an international initiative serving librarians, publishers and intermediaries by setting standards that facilitate the recording and reporting of online usage statistics in a consistent, credible and comparable way. Elsevier is an active participant in COUNTER.
COUNTER offers reports in different categories; Elsevier offers a subset of COUNTER reports which are listed below. Different products offer different reports; for details, please refer to the "Products" section of this page.
COUNTER Code of Practice, Release 5
COUNTER Code of Practice, Release 5 (COP5) is an initiative that Elsevier has partnered on with COUNTER, alongside other publishers, librarians and vendors, to improve the clarity, consistency and comparability of usage reporting.
As of January 2025, the valid Code of Practice is Release 5.1 (COP5.1). One of the main changes concerns the Access Types: with an expansion of the definition of Open (formerly OA_Gold) and the new Free_To_Read access type, less usage will fall under Controlled. More information on the latest release can be found on the COUNTER website opens in new tab/window.
You can access detailed information and helpful guides on the COUNTER COP5 metrics by visiting the COUNTER website opens in new tab/window. COUNTER has also published some friendly user guides opens in new tab/window.
COUNTER widget is available in E-PIC for customers
COUNTER reporting is available in Elsevier Product Insights for Customers (E-PIC) opens in new tab/window for all customers that have access to E-PIC. You can find the widget in the Manage Research Tools tab and in the “All widgets” views.
Please contact support hub opens in new tab/window if you need/want access to E-PIC or if you have any questions regarding this subject.
Title reports
TR – Title Master Report
TR_J1 – Journal Requests (Excluding OA_Gold)
TR_J2 – Journal Access Denied
TR_J3 – Journal Usage by Access Type
TR_J4 – Journal Requests by YOP (Excluding OA_Gold)
TR_B1 – Book Requests (Excluding OA_Gold)
TR_B2 – Book Access Denied
TR_B3 – Book Usage by Access Type
Platform reports
PR – Platform Master Report
PR_P1 – Platform Usage
Database report
DR – Database Master Report
DR_D1 – Database Search and Item Usage
Frequently Asked Questions about COUNTER Code of Practice, Release 5.1 and Supplementary Reports
COUNTER opens in new tab/window rolled out its new Code of Practice, Release 5.1 (COP5.1) in January 2025.
Comprised of libraries, publishers and vendors – including Elsevier, a founding member – COUNTER is a non-profit organization that develops standards for reporting on the usage of electronic resources.
These standards are continuously updated to reflect changes in the information landscape, with COP5.1 being the latest iteration. COP5.1 has been developed to improve the clarity, consistency, and comparability of usage reporting.
New access type definitions
One of the main changes in COP5.1 compared with the previous Code of Practice concerns the Access Types: with an expansion of the definition of Open (formerly OA_Gold) and the new Free_To_Read access type, less usage will fall under Controlled. The table below outlines the changes for different license types.
Type of content | COP5.0 | COP5.1 |
Content under access control, e.g. subscription content | Controlled | Controlled |
Freely accessible for a limited period of time, e.g. promotions | Controlled | Free_to_read |
Open archive | Controlled | Open |
Gold Open Access | OA_Gold | Open |
Technology and publisher platform innovation have immensely transformed researcher workflows since the last Code of Practice was published in 2012, which has led to a need for additional usage metrics to better measure online user behaviour:
Distributed Usage Logging (DUL) is a new CrossRef-facilitated standard that allows for reporting of usage on 3rd party platforms (e.g. Mendeley, ReadCube).
Investigations measure content interactions beyond the full text (e.g. abstracts, videos, research data).
Unique Item Requests measure usage independent of the content format and user interface, replacing the current separate HTML and PDF metrics (i.e. an HTML and a pdf download of the same article in the same user session count as a single
Unique_Item_Request).
Unique Title Requests (Books only) provide a total count of unique requests for a given e-book title, regardless of how many ‘sections’ (e.g. pages, chapters or an entire e-book) the user downloaded during a session.
Access type attributes: standard journal reports include a filter to identify usage of “Controlled” content (content behind license / subscription) vs “Open” content and “Free_To_Read” content.
The metrics simplify comparisons between vendors and will be added to Elsevier’s wide ranging “basket of metrics” we provide to help you if you’re evaluating collections, or if you’re reporting upwards about the value the library provides. Visit the COUNTER website to learn more about these new metrics. opens in new tab/window
The COUNTER reports are on the free E-PIC service, to give our customers a more holistic view of their Elsevier content across products. There are separate widgets for COP5.0 and COP5.1 reports.
COP5.1 definitions are available in the reports run through the COUNTER5.1 widget. Data covering usage from January 2025 onward will be using the COP5.1 definitions.
Usage data covering older data reflect COP5.0 definitions. Please note that the closest equivalent in COP5.1 terminology will be used (e.g. Open will be used for OA_Gold access type) in these reports.
COP5 metrics are available from January 2019 onwards.
COUNTER usage reports broken down per child account (department) are available through COUNTER for ScienceDirect since January 2023. This report is not available for the other products currently.
Scopus Usage and Engineering Village Usage widgets contain the ability to filter usage metrics per department.
The same as before. A turnaway is registered when a user tries to access an article but has no access entitlement to the content. The user will be directed to the abstract of the article at that time.
Investigations measure any content interaction, including abstracts, abstract & references, metadata, videos, supplementary materials (e.g. research data), images.
Elsevier has developed new and innovative ways to provide value to researchers leveraging different content types and metadata beyond “flat PDFs” and the Investigations metric allows us to track and showcase that value. Note that an active user request needs to be present to record an Investigation, i.e. embedded content does not count unless user requests it.
No, the processing of the logs is handled in the same way for all users.
Consortium managers are able to access any COUNTER report for their members and pull an overall report containing aggregate usage statistics for all members of their consortium. In addition, consortia can now get reports with the breakdown per child account from E-PIC. To request administrator rights as a consortium or to identify your administrator(s), please follow the directions in the Admin Tool.
DUL (Distributed Usage Logging) is a new CrossRef-facilitated standard to report usage of DOI-identified content on 3rd party platforms such as aggregators, repositories and SCNs. Technology has facilitated more interactive ways of accessing content, sharing and collaborating on non-publisher platforms such as aggregators, repositories and SCNs. DUL enables a more complete representation of content value.
For detailed information and helpful guides on the COUNTER metrics and how you will benefit from even more transparent reporting, we encourage you to visit the COUNTER website. opens in new tab/window
You can find all the reports using the Engineering Village Usage widget in E-PIC. The widget provides:
Overview (Citations, Literature discovery, total searches)
Searches (breakdown by type)
Searches by database combination (Top 10 database combination searches in the last 12 months)
Literature discovery (abstract record views, detailed record views and outward links to documents)
You have the ability to filter the usage per department.
You can find all the reports using API Usage widget from E-PIC. This widget provides monthly usage per API for Scopus and ScienceDirect.
You can get monthly total Full Text Usage per Book Type using ScienceDirect Usage widget. Select Books in the first dropdown list and then “E-Books”, “Series”, “RefWorks” or “Handbooks” instead of “Total usage”.
The Book usage reports per Book Type and ISBN/ISSN are not available yet.
Please contact your account manager if you need to get COP5 usage reports for each book type.
Your Elsevier Account Manager and Customer Consultant are both always available to answer questions and give training and support for your reporting needs.
SUSHI
SUSHI opens in new tab/window (Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative) is an automated data exchange protocol and has been established as ANSI/NISO Z39.93-2014 standard opens in new tab/window for API support of COUNTER-compliant usage statistics. Elsevier supports reports for ScienceDirect, Scopus, Embase, ClincalKey and Engineering Village.
The COUNTER_SUSHI API is designed to simplify the gathering of usage statistics by report consumers, and report providers MUST support automatic harvesting of COUNTER reports via the COUNTER_SUSHI API. Starting with R5.1, the specification for the RESTful COUNTER_SUSHI API uses JSON schema for the JSON format, and OpenAPI 3.1 for the API. The COUNTER_SUSHI API Specification is now maintained by COUNTER on Stoplight.io opens in new tab/window
The SUSHI section opens in new tab/window on the Elsevier Developers page opens in new tab/window provides more specific information about Elsevier SUSHI COP5.1, including how to activate it and obtain support.
Products
COUNTER-compliant usage reports for ScienceDirect, Scopus, Engineering Village, Embase and ClinicalKey can be accessed via Elsevier Product Insights for Customers (E-PIC) opens in new tab/window, and SUSHI opens in new tab/window.
ScienceDirect reports
ScienceDirect offers COUNTER-compliant reports on content use. These reports include all available title reports: TR, TR_J1-TR_J4, TR_B1 and TR_B3. In addition, the platform reports PR and PR_P1 are supplied. With a license to ScienceDirect, users are also able to access the full text of their entitled journals via journal branded websites (e.g. www.Cell.com opens in new tab/window, www.TheLancet.com opens in new tab/window) and through APIs. Usage via these routes is included in the reports as the platform ScienceDirect licensed content.
In addition to the COUNTER-compliant reports, ScienceDirect offers supplementary reports providing additional insights.
ScienceDirect COUNTER and supplementary report descriptions and information opens in new tab/window (PDF, 0.4 MB)
Scopus reports
Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature: scientific journals, books and conference proceedings. Scopus offers the COUNTER-compliant usage reports PR, PR_P1, DR and DR_D1 as well as additional usage reports that show insights on the usage of specific product features.
Scopus COUNTER and non-COUNTER report descriptions and information opens in new tab/window (PDF, 0.3 MB)
Engineering Village reports
Engineering Village takes engineering research to the next level with a comprehensive database that includes the most authoritative engineering resources available to answer today’s most timely questions - from theoretical to applied, and basic to complex.
Engineering Village offers the COUNTER-complaint usage reports PR, PR_P1, DR and DR_D1 as well as additional usage reports that show insights on the usage of specific product features.
Engineering Village COUNTER and supplementary report descriptions and information opens in new tab/window (PDF, 0.3 MB)
ClinicalKey reports
ClinicalKey provides standardized medical knowledge to support healthcare professionals and students with the latest evidence across specialties in a variety of formats.
Clinical Key offers COUNTER-compliant reports on content use. These reports include the following title reports: TR, TR_J1, TR_J3, TR_J4, TR_B1 and TR_B3. In addition, the platform reports PR and PR_P1 are supplied.
ClinicalKey COUNTER report descriptions and information opens in new tab/window (PDF, 0.3 MB)
Embase reports
Embase is the most comprehensive medical research database for high-quality, comprehensive evidence. Embase is recognized as a source of medical literature. Life science experts rely on Embase to find relevant and current results based on Emtree indexing of full-text content and dedicated search terms.
Embase offers the COUNTER-compliant usage reports PR, PR_P1, DR and DR_D1 as well as additional usage reports that show insights on the usage of specific product features.
Embase COUNTER report descriptions and information opens in new tab/window (PDF, 0.3 MB)
Admin Tool
The admin tool is the application for account administration. To request administrator rights or to identify your administrator(s) please follow the directions on the Admin Tool page opens in new tab/window.