Open Research Online (ORO) download statistics update
Counting downloads of research outputs archived in ORO provides the University and its researchers with a measure of dissemination for the University’s research.
Since the beginning of the ORO service Library Services has used Google Analytics to count downloads of research outputs archived in ORO. These counts have been communicated monthly in the form of a Top 15 of most downloaded outputs. In January 2013, Library Services joined the Institution Repository Usage Statistics (IRUS) project which provides download statistics for ORO. A comparison of statistics collected by the IRUS project and our standard method of using Google Analytics reveals that Google Analytics only records a small percentage of actual downloads from ORO.
Investigations indicate that Google Analytics does not collect all download activity from ORO. Notification of downloads may not always be received by (or sent to Google Analytics) and Google Analytics may only be reporting on downloads direct from the ORO website (e.g. not direct downloads from Google or Google Scholar).
For the purposes of the July top 15 monthly downloads Google Analytics and IRUS statistics will be run in parallel. Starting from August we will only report the IRUS statistics. Researchers can expect to see a significant rise in the number of downloads recorded for their research outputs and potential changes to the Top 15 positions.
Benefits of the move to IRUS will be:
- Reliable statistics which conform to a library and publishing standard
- Researchers will see a significant rise in the download counts for their research outputs
- Download counts provide a metric for measuring the impact of your research
If you have any questions or queries please contact the ORO team at lib-oro@open.ac.uk
Chris Biggs, ORO Administrator, Library Services