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COUNTER Code of Practice

COUNTER Metrics
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Website (Opens in new window) Membership (Opens in new window) Get in Touch (Opens in new window)

About

Launched: 2003
Record Updated: Oct 12, 2026
Standard, specification or protocol
The COUNTER Code of Practice is the global standard for measuring and reporting on usage of digital content, agreed by libraries, consortia, publishers, technology providers, aggregators and others. By ensuring all parties have a shared understanding of normalised, comparable, consistent usage metrics, the Code allows everyone to be confident in working with and relying on usage data.

Domain Relevance

  • Generalist (no disciplinary-focus)

Mission

COUNTER brings the knowledge community together to agree and adopt the global standard for measuring and reporting content usage through normalised metrics.

Key Achievements

In early 2025 report providers started offering reports under the new Release 5.1 of the COUNTER Code of Practice, the first edition optimised for reporting on usage of OA content (https://cop5.projectcounter.org/en/5.1/). We have since developed COUNTER Academy and upgraded our free technical support tools. We are creating best practice guidelines on OA reporting and AI usage metrics.

We continue to deliver technical support through tools like our open Registry (https://registry.projectcounter.org/) and the free Validator (https://validator.countermetrics.org/). Our free educational materials (https://www.countermetrics.org/education/) are continuously reviewed and updated to best support the community.

Technical Attributes

Maintenance Status

Actively Maintained

Open Code Repository

Implemented
Code of Practice (Opens in new window)

Technical Documentation

Implemented
Education pages (Opens in new window)

Open API

Implemented
COUNTER API (formerly sushi) (Opens in new window)

Open Product Roadmap

Implemented
Best practice guidelines will be taken into future major Releases when appropriate (Opens in new window)

Technical Attribute Statements

Technology Readiness Level

  • Actual system proven in operational environment

Code Licenses Used

  • MIT License

Content Licensing

  • Creative commons licenses
  • Other
Other:
The Code is under a CC BY license. We do not specify licenses for reports delivered under the Code of Practice.

Standards

Metadata

  • JSON
Other:
Reports must be available in JSON via the COUNTER API, and in tabular format

Metrics

  • COUNTER 5
  • Make Data Count
  • SUSHI

Service Providers

Integrations

  • COUNTER Code of Practice

Community Engagement

Code of Conduct

Implemented
COUNTER Code of Conduct (Opens in new window)

Community Engagement

Implemented
Community engagement is one of our strategic objectives (Opens in new window)

Contribution Guidelines or Fora

Implemented
How we work (Opens in new window)

Community Statements

User Contribution Pathways

  • Contribute funds
  • Contribute to code
  • Contribute to documentation
  • Contribute to education or training
  • Contribute to governance
  • Contribute to peer reviews
  • Contribute to working groups or interest groups

Community Engagement Activities

  • Annual meetings
  • Blogs
  • Community calls
  • Conference participation
  • Interest, working, user, or advisory groups
  • Mailing lists and discussion forums (including Slack)
  • Social media
  • Webinars and training

Engagement with Values Frameworks

  • Principles for Open Scholarly Infrastructure (POSI)

More About Community Engagement

Community Engagement Activities:

COUNTER Members have voting rights at our annual general meeting, are eligible to join our committees and working groups as vacancies arise, and receive our consultations and quarterly newsletters and updates. We also work with our members on projects including the development of tools, training events, and resources. https://www.countermetrics.org/members/

Policies & Governance

Governance Summary

COUNTER is a non-profit organization supported by a global community of library, publisher and vendor members, who contribute to the development of the Code of Practice through working groups and outreach. We are governed by a Board of Directors responsible for ensuring we deliver on our mission, while our Executive Committee oversees operational activities including technical development of the Code of Practice.
You can find out more at https://www.countermetrics.org/about/

Policies

Bylaws

Implemented
Website (Opens in new window)

Commitment to Equity & Inclusion

In Progress

Privacy Policy

Implemented
Privacy policy and data protection (Opens in new window)

Web Accessibility Statement

Implemented
Applies to Solution
Applies to Website
Accessibility (Opens in new window)

Governance Records

Implemented
AGM Minutes (Opens in new window)

Governance Structure & Processes

Implemented
Committee structure (Opens in new window)

Transparent Pricing and Cost Expectations

Implemented
Membership (Opens in new window)

Policy Statements

Board Structure

  • Multi-board governance

Community Governance

  • Formal

Additional Information

Organizational History

We release updates to the Code of Practice on average every five years, though some small clarifications and backwards-compatible features may be released in the interim if the community requires it.

Since launch, COUNTER has been led by three Project Directors: Peter Shepherd, Lorraine Estelle, and now Tasha Mellins-Cohen. We are not for profit and not for sale. There's an article in Serials, the UKSG journal, describing our foundation: https://serials.uksg.org/articles/10.1629/15161
The history of our Board of Directors and finances can be accessed from Companies House: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/04865179

Organizational Structure

Business or Ownership Model

Non-profit organization

Full-time Staff

1-5

Volunteers

1-5

Current Affiliations

  • Informal links to multiple organisations, but none are directly involved in governance or operations

Funding

Primary Funding Source

  • Contributions

Revenue Sources

  • Corporate sponsorship
  • Institutional memberships
  • Investment and endowment income

Financial Reporting Level

  • Host

Funding Needs

We know that implementing the Code of Practice can be challenging for smaller groups, either as report providers (publishers) or report consumers (libraries). Additional funding would enable us to develop new tools to help these groups implement the standard, as well as allowing us to provide more support through our outreach and education initiatives.
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