HTML VS PDF USAGE IN JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS

Chan LiSr. Data Analyst

California Digital Library2014 ALA Annual, Las Vegas

RESEARCH QUESETION: IS HTML EQUAL TO PDF USAGE?

STATISTICAL FINDINGS

HTML/PDF RATIOS VARY A LOT AMONG PUBLISHERS

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U -

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

2013 Average HTML / PDF Uses Ratios by Publisher

Publishers

HTML/PDF usage ratios are clustered by publisher platform

PDF USAGE IS MORE CONSISTENT THAN HTML USAGE OVER YEARS

2010 2011 2012 20130

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

80000

90000

100000

Usage for Publisher A

PDF HTML

2010 2011 2012 20130

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

80000

90000

100000

Usage for Publisher B

PDF HTML

ANOTHER EXAMPLE

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 -

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

400,000 Usage for Publisher C

PDF HTML

PDF USAGE HAS STRONGER CORRELATION WITH CITATIONS THAN HTML USAGE

CONTRSIBUTING FACTORS

DIFFERENT PUBLISHER WEBSITE DESIGN

SPRINGER EXAMPLE

BASED ON SPRINGER EXAMPLE…

PDF , 59%

HTML,

6%

Look Inside, 34%

1. Springer: Usage = Total usage- Look Inside

2. Others*: Usage= PDF + 15% HTML???

*Others: the ones that present HTML fulltext automatically

ENHANCED HTML JOURNAL ARTICLE

VARIOUS ARTICLE TYPESPDF USAGE ≈ RESEARCH ARTICLES?

2013 Journal X Usage: PDF VS HTML Usage Shares Distribution

PDF25%

HTML75%

2013 Journal X Publications: Content Type Distribution

Article; 544; 29%

Letter; 748; 40%

Short

Sur-vey; 202; 11%

Note;

121; 7%

Edi-to-rial; 110; 6%

Review; 66; 4%Erratum; 59; 3%Conference

Paper; 1; 0%

FURTHER RESEARCH

OTHER AREAS TO EXPLORE

1.Literature review, environmental scan2.More analysis on citation and usage

correlation3.More evidences on how article types are

related to usage in different format4.How to adjust usage data based on findings?

Will journal ranking change based on adjusted usage?

Chan Lichan.li@ucop.eduCalifornia Digital Library