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Database Committee: Database Investigations, Requests, and Searches

Database Investigations, Requests, and Searches

Investigations and Requests - Definitions

There are several different types of usage metric in Counter 5, which break down into investigations and requests. An investigation is tracked when a user performs any action in relation to a content item or title, while a request is specifically related to viewing or downloading the full content item.

Investigations -

  • Total_Item_Investigations - the total number of times a content item or information related to a content item was accessed. It includes the following -

    •         Viewing an abstract

    •         Linking to a link resolver

    •         Viewing cited references

    •         Linking to an ILL form

    •         Viewing html full-text

    •         Viewing the PDF

    •         Watching a video

    •         Viewing an article preview

Total Item Investigations is a good metric for citation databases not known for full-text, such as Cinahl, since users may interact with it more looking at abstracts, or clicking out to a link resolver to get full-text elsewhere, or ordering via a built-in ILL form.

  • Unique_Item_Investigations - the number of unique content items (e.g. chapters) investigated by a user.

  • Unique_Title_Investigations - the number of unique titles (e.g. books) investigated by a user.

Requests -

  • Total_Item_Requests - the total number of times the full text of a content item was downloaded or viewed.

  • Unique_Item_Requests - the number of unique content items (e.g. chapters) requested by a user. This eliminates the duplication built into Total Item Requests when someone pulls up the html, and then pulls a pdf of the same article in the same session. These numbers will likely be lower than Total Item Requests.

  • Unique_Title_Requests - the number of unique titles (e.g. books) requested by a user.

Key Point - Accessing an item as full-text counts as both a request AND an investigation (an expression of interest). Counter 5 Requests vs Investigations

The Four Types of Searches

There are four different types of searches in Counter 5:

  • Regular Searches - the number of times a user searches a database, when they have actively chosen that database from a list of options OR there is only one database available to search.
  • Automated Searches - the number of times a user searches a database, when they have not actively chosen that database from a list of options. That is, Searches_Automated is recorded when the platform offers a search across multiple databases by default, and the user has not elected to limit their search to a subset of those databases. Included are searches conducted on a host site or discovery service where multiple databases are searched simultaneously with a single query and the end user does not have the option of selecting the databases being searched.
  • Federated Searches - the number of times a search is run remotely by a computer.
  • Platform Searches - the number of times a user searches a database, regardless of the number of databases involved in the search.

Investigation and Request Scenarios

Scenarios - Investigations & Requests

Susan is researching the history of antibiotics on Publisher Platform Alpha. From a list of search results, she opens three article abstracts and a video record. All four records are different, but two of the articles are from the same journal. The counts are -

  • total_item_investigations: 4

  • unique_item_investigations: 4

  • unique_title_investigations: 3

After reading the abstracts, Susan downloads the PDFs for two of the articles, both from the same journal. The counts change to:

  • total_item_investigations: 6

  • unique_item_investigations: 4

  • unique_title_investigations: 3

  • total_item_requests: 2

  • unique_item_requests: 2

  • unique_title_requests: 1

Search Scenarios

Scenarios - Searches

Susan is researching the history of antibiotics on Publisher Platform Alpha. She runs a search for “history AND antibiotics”. The counts are: 

  • Searches_Regular:  1

  • Searches_Automated: 0

  • Searches_Platform:  1

  • Searches_Federated: 0

For a database like this, the cost per use calculation may be related to searches rather than to full-text downloads; this varies according to individual library practice.

Susan is researching the history of antibiotics on Publisher Platform Alpha, which includes multiple databases. She runs a search for “history AND antibiotics”. The counts are:

  • Searches_Regular:  0

  • Searches_Automated: 1

  • Searches_Platform:  1

  • Searches_Federated: 0

Susan then selects the ‘History of Medicine’ database and reruns her search. The counts are:

  • Searches_Regular:  1

  • Searches_Automated: 1

  • Searches_Platform:  2

  • Searches_Federated: 0

In a separate session, Susan uses an API to search Publisher Platform Alpha. The count for that activity is:

  • Searches_Regular:  0

  • Searches_Automated: 0

  • Searches_Platform:  0

  • Searches_Federated: 1

Coverage Notes

Coverage is from 09/01/2019 - 08/31/2024

The above data comes from the Database Master Report and includes the most used databases.

NOTE - some Ebsco data from 8/2022 is missing, per report from Ebsco.

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