Overview of the New Author Dashboard

The Author Dashboard is a personalized metrics and reporting tool for authors with works published in Digital Commons. As an author, you can easily access your dashboard to view current download statistics for every work you publish, as well as global insights into the sources of readership.

Use the Dashboard to quickly pull up information for a body of work or for individual articles. Explore recent data, all-time statistics, or a custom date range. You also have options to share and export the data.

If you are an author looking for information about submitting works to a Digital Commons site, please see Author Submission Steps in Digital Commons. 

Access the New Author Dashboard

You may access the new Author Dashboard using the Author Dashboard (New!) link on your My Account page:

Filter Results on the Dashboard

Filter by Date

To change the time frame for metrics and reports, use the date filters at the top of the dashboard.

Date filter options:

• Past 30 Days: A 30-day snapshot including today’s date.
• Last Month: The previous calendar month, which correlates to the monthly readership email report.
• Past 90 Days: The maximum amount of time for which daily results are available.
• All Time: Monthly data going back as far as readership data exists for your works.
• Custom: Allows you to select a custom range of available dates containing data for your works. To view activity for a single month, select the same month as the start and end date.

Click the “x” next to an applied date filter to remove it. The default date filter, Past 30 Days, is not removable. To filter by no date, choose the All Time filter.

Dates for PlumX Metrics page are not affected by the date range menu and will remain all-time.

Filter by Item Using the Filter Button

Using the Filter button, you can filter the dashboard by item to view metrics for an individual article or other work.

To access and choose an item filter:

1. Click the Filter button.
   
2. A side panel opens with an Item menu.
   
3. Click the Item menu to expand it. The top 10 most downloaded items are shown by default. Use the filter’s search field to find specific items that aren’t in the list. Selecting an item adds a filter tag to the bottom of the side panel. Click the “x” on the individual item tag to remove it, or click Clear all.
   
4. When finished, click the Apply Filter button, which closes the panel.

The selected item's title will display near the top of the dashboard while the filter is in place:

To remove an item filter, click the Filter button in the side panel and click Clear all (if present), then Apply filter.

Save and Share Results

As you explore the dashboard, you can easily save views that you want to revisit or share with others.

Save the Current Dashboard

Whenever you’d like to save a dashboard with the currently selected filters, click the Save & Share button.

Enter a Title and Description (optional) in the window and click Save.

The dashboard will be added to your Saved Dashboards page, described below.

View and Share Saved Dashboards

Dashboards you've saved with the Save & Share button are accessible via the Saved Searches link in the navigation bar.

On the Saved Dashboards page, click a title or upward right arrow to view a saved dashboard with its associated filters. The other options allow you to share a saved dashboard (no login required), track the number of views associated with a share link, edit title and description, or delete a saved dashboard.

Copy and share a link to a saved dashboard:

1. Click Share in the row for the dashboard you want to share.
2. In the window that opens, click Copy link.
3. Share it by pasting in a text or email message, webpage, or social media post.

Links to shared dashboards do not expire. However, you may delete a saved dashboard at any time if you no longer wish to provide guest access to a particular view.

What guest users see when a dashboard is shared:

Sharing a dashboard generates a link to a specific initial view of the dashboard to share with stakeholders or individuals. No password is required for users who access the dashboard via share links.

A user who clicks on a share link can see the initial view plus explore the rest of the dashboard. However, they won’t be able to see your account details or save and share options.

If the dashboard link is posted on a website, Google will index the page and it will be made available in search results.

Dashboard Tabs

The tabs listed along the left of the dashboard offer a variety of metrics that convey unique insights into readership activity for your work.

Summary

The default dashboard screen, the Summary tab, includes a readership distribution map plus current snapshots of metrics from each of the other tabs.

The readership map provides a global, interactive visualization of readership for works matching the current dashboard filters. You can move the map by dragging it, and click the numbers in the download clusters or use the +/- zoom buttons for a more granular view. Data recorded on the map goes back to December 2014.

Scroll down the Summary page to view snapshots from more tabs.

Downloads

This tab includes a graph, a table, and usage report options for viewing full-text downloads of your work. The graph shows a quick tally of downloads for works matching the current dashboard filters. Results are aggregated either by day or by month based on the date filter selected on the dashboard. Hovering over a time frame on the graph displays the number of downloads during that time.

The table below the graph lists all published works and their associated downloads. You can click a title to go to the work’s page in the repository or journal. You can also search for works in the table, adjust the number of works shown per page, or click column headings with arrows to sort the table. Metadata-only items will show “n/a” for the number of downloads.

To generate a usage report: Click the Generate Report button, which opens a window with the following options.

• Report type:
  • Choose “Full Text Downloads” to see download numbers for primary files (e.g., the PDF file of an article that is available for download). Metadata-only items will be listed with a download of 0.
  • To include additional files, choose “Full Text & Additional Files.” Full texts and additional files will appear separately in the report with their respective downloads, and any discipline or publication type filters will not apply. Only additional files that have at least 1 download are listed in the report.
• Provide:
  • Choose “Details for all works” to view data per submission.
  • “Summary by publication/series” will show a condensed list of downloads by publication structure (each series, journals, etc.). Structures that don't have qualifying items will display as 0.
• Aggregate By: You may choose Total, Year, Month, or Day (if selected time frame is within past 90 days).

Click the Email me the report button when finished selecting options. You’ll receive an email containing a link to download the report in an Excel spreadsheet. The link in the email expires after one week. 

Metadata Page Hits

This tab provides metrics for metadata page hits in a graph, a table, and several report options. The graph shows metadata page hits for works matching the current dashboard filters. Hovering over a time frame on the graph displays the number of metadata page hits during that time.

The table below the graph lists all published works and their associated metadata page hits. You can also search for works, adjust the number of works shown per page, or click column headings with arrows to sort the table.

To generate a metadata page hits report: Click the Generate Report button, which opens a window with the following options.

• Provide:
  • Choose “Details for all works” to return data per submission.
  • “Summary by publication/series” will show a condensed list of metadata page hits by publication structure (each series, journals, etc.). Structures that don't have qualifying items will display as 0.
• Aggregate By: You may choose Total, Year, Month, or Day (if selected time frame is within past 90 days).

Click the Email me the report button when finished selecting options. You’ll receive an email containing a link to download the report in an Excel spreadsheet. The link in the email expires after one week. 

Tip: Downloads tend to be higher than metadata page hits, since users frequently access full texts directly via search engines. Metadata page hits can offer insights into how readers may find works by browsing and searching the site, typing a URL from a citation, or clicking metadata page links in search results.

Streams

The graph shows usage for native video and audio streaming on works matching the current filters on the dashboard. Three types of metrics are shown: plays, views, and finishes.

• Play = the visitor pressed play on the video/audio player
• View = the video/audio played for 30 seconds or more
• Finish = the video/audio played all the way through 

Country/Region

This tab shows downloads by country, region, or state. It also provides report options to export geographical data from the dashboard. Data recorded for countries and regions goes back to December 2014. The graph highlights the top 10 countries with the most downloads. Hovering over a country on the graph shows the number of downloads from that country. 

The table lists all countries with downloaded works along with their total downloads. A Top Downloads link is available for exploring the downloaded titles for each country. Click a country in the table to expand and view regions/states within that country. You may also search for countries in the table, adjust the number of countries shown per page, and click column headings with arrows to sort the table.

To download country/region reports: Click the Generate Report button above the table to download a CSV file containing the countries currently visible in table. More granular reports for downloaded titles by country and region are available via the “Top Downloads” links in the table.

Institutions

This tab shows institutions where readers accessed works and which types of institutions had the most downloads. Data recorded for institutions goes back to December 2014. The graph features the total downloads for each of the following institution types: Commercial, Organization, Government, Military, Education, and Library. Hovering over a bar on the graph shows the number of downloads for that type.

The table below the graph lists all institutions along with their total downloads and institution type. A Top Downloads link is available for exploring the downloaded titles for each institution. You may also search for institutions in the table, adjust the number of institutions shown per page, or click the column headings with arrows to sort the table.

To download an institutions report: Click the Generate Report button above the table to download a CSV file containing the institutions currently visible in table. More granular reports for downloaded titles by institution are available via the “Top Downloads” links in the table.

Referrers

The graph, table, and report on this tab provide information about referrers such as domains or html pages where users may have clicked a link to download a full text. The graph includes the top 10 referrers with the most downloads. Hovering over a referrer on the graph shows the associated number of downloads. 

The table lists all referrers along with their total downloads. You may click a referrer URL in the table to go to that website. You can also search for referrers in the table, adjust the number of referrers shown per page, or click column headings with arrows to sort the table.

Note that some valid downloads do not have associated referrer data, because not all users pass along referral information. Over the years, fewer browsers and search engines have passed along this information, so referrer numbers now generally include only a small fraction of traffic.

To download a referrers report: Click Generate Report to export the results currently shown in the table to a CSV file.

PlumX Metrics

PlumX Metrics are included in your dashboard to aid discovery of the broader impact of your work. Diverse metrics such as news mentions and social media shares can help uncover additional context about how people are interacting with individual articles and other works.

You can access PlumX Metrics in the navigation bar of your Author Dashboard:

Note that PlumX data will not be affected by a date range selected on the dashboard and will remain all-time.

PlumX Overview tab:

Each tile on the main PlumX Overview tab represents a different category and shows a summary of metrics for that category. PlumX Metrics are organized into five categories: Usage, Citations, Captures, Mentions, and Social Media. For more details about PlumX categories, see Measuring Impact with PlumX Metrics in Digital Commons.

The table on the PlumX Metrics Overview tab breaks down the numbers in each category by individual work. You can click the work’s title to go to its location in the repository or journal, or click the PlumX link on the right to go to the PlumX record for that item. 

The table can be sorted by work or by any of the metrics. You may also search for works in the table, adjust the number of works shown per page, or click Generate Report to download a CSV file of the currently shown results in the table.

Other tabs:

The five PlumX Metrics categories (usage, citations, captures, mentions, and social media) can be explored as individual tabs. Each tab includes a summary of metrics for that category with a detailed table underneath. The column headings of each table reflect the specific sub-metrics within that category.

For instance, the Usage category summary and table look like this:

Clicking a title goes to the item’s page in the repository or journal. For the Social Media tab, there is also a PlumX link for each item to view its PlumX record.

Tip: The "Digital Commons" numbers in the record combine downloads on all DC sites where the paper appears.

Frequently Asked Questions

What constitutes a download?

See our page on Accurate Metrics in Digital Commons for a detailed answer about how we define a download. Please note that a set amount of time needs to pass between downloads of an item from the same IP address for them to not count as duplicates. Downloads by administrators from the administrator-facing side of our system are not counted. We also filter out all downloads made by staff.

Do usage statistics include withdrawn or hidden items?

The dashboard does not include hidden items. Withdrawn items are included on the dashboard and in usage reports, along with any previous download data available for them. In usage reports, they are identified as withdrawn in the “State” column.

Exception to the above: The “Full Text & Additional Files” usage report available on the Downloads tab behaves in the opposite way, i.e., withdrawn items are not included and hidden items are included in the report.

Do usage reports support Chinese or Unicode characters?

Yes. Submission titles with Chinese or other Unicode characters will display properly in usage reports.

Why are EBSCO and a few other sources denoted as “historical data only” in PlumX metrics?

When a PlumX source changes and data is no longer updated, PlumX often preserves existing metrics for use in research evaluation and marks the data as historical.