{"id":812,"date":"2019-08-27T17:06:54","date_gmt":"2019-08-27T17:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/?p=812"},"modified":"2019-08-27T14:35:53","modified_gmt":"2019-08-27T14:35:53","slug":"edinburgh-research-archive-er-data-jan-june-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/2019\/08\/27\/edinburgh-research-archive-er-data-jan-june-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Edinburgh Research Archive | ER-data: Jan. &#8211; June 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/files\/2019\/08\/ERA_0b.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-555\" src=\"http:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/files\/2019\/08\/ERA_0b.png\" alt=\"Edinburgh Research Archive | ER-data: January 2019 - Jun. 2019\" width=\"996\" height=\"327\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nEdinburgh Research Archive\u00a0\u2022 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk\">www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk<\/a>\u00a0\u2022 ERdata: Jan. &#8211; June 2019<\/p>\n<p>The first half of 2019 saw the fifth highest total of downloads from ERA over a six-month period, unfortunately this is the lowest total of its \u2018mature\u2019 phase (since Jan-Jun 2017 download numbers have been consistently higher than 300,000 per 6-month block).<\/p>\n<figure><a href=\"http:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/files\/2019\/08\/ERA_1c.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-555\" src=\"http:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/files\/2019\/08\/ERA_1c.png\" alt=\"Edinburgh Research Archive: downloads Jun 2013 - June 2019, in six-monthly blocks\" width=\"800\" height=\"788\" \/><\/a><figcaption style='font-size: 0.8em;line-height: 1.6em;padding: 1em 0 2em 0;width: 100%;font-style:italic'>Fig i. Edinburgh Research Archive: downloads Jun 2013 &#8211; June 2019, in six-monthly blocks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>More disappointingly, this is the first time in ERAs history that we\u2019ve witnessed a fall-off in numbers in two consecutive blocks: December 2018 saw a 15% decline and June 2109 has brought a further decline of 6.5%.<\/p>\n<p>The remainder of this report aims to offer an overview of the last six-months of download activity on the Edinburgh Research Archive. Using data generated through the IRUS-UK download statistics portal to investigate that activity under the following headings:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#dl_country\">a. Downloads by\u00a0Country<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#dl_item-type\">b. Downloads by Item-type<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#dl_title\">c. Downloads by Title<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#dl_otherFactors\">d. Other factors<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>[Also available as a <a href=\"http:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/files\/2019\/08\/ERA_ERdata_2019-06.pdf\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">PDF<\/a> &#8211; 605kb]<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<hr id=\"dl_country\">\n<p><u><strong>a. Downloads by\u00a0Country:<\/strong><\/u><\/p>\n<figure><a href=\"http:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/files\/2019\/08\/ERA_3c.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-555\" src=\"http:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/files\/2019\/08\/ERA_3c.png\" alt=\"Edinburgh Research Archive: downloads by 'country', January - June 2019\" width=\"1199\" height=\"713\" \/><\/a><figcaption style='font-size: 0.8em;line-height: 1.6em;padding: 1em 0 2em 0;width: 100%;font-style:italic'>Fig ii. Edinburgh Research Archive: downloads by &#8216;country&#8217;, January &#8211; June 2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Ostensibly exhibiting the same general patterns as Edinburgh Research Explorer: with the largest audience blocks defined by language groups &#8211; UK English, followed by native English speakers. There is a slightly more exotic selection of countries with English-as-additional-language speakers: a few of our neighbouring countries and China have much reduced shares, allowing India, the Philippines and Russia to move higher up the rankings without actually increasing  their shares. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With the lower numbers at the top of the list, ERA displays a much stronger tail: the \u2018Rest of the World\u2019 as a block accounted for 37% compared to Explorer\u2019s 21% of downloads, and that block was made up of a slightly larger figure of 220 other countries and territories.<br \/>\n<br \/>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr id=\"dl_item-type\">\n<p><u><strong>b. Downloads by\u00a0Item-type:<\/strong><\/u><\/p>\n<p>Thesis make up nearly 90% of ERA&#8217;s downloads, with the other 10% being very much a mish-mash of this and that, and as might be expected there\u2019s very little overlap with Research Explorer:<\/p>\n<figure><a href=\"http:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/files\/2019\/08\/ERA_4c.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-555\" src=\"http:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/files\/2019\/08\/ERA_4c.png\" alt=\"Edinburgh Research Archive downloads by item-type, January - June 2019\" width=\"802\" height=\"500\" \/><\/a><figcaption style='font-size: 0.8em;line-height: 1.6em;padding: 1em 0 2em 0;width: 100%;font-style:italic'>Fig iii. Edinburgh Research Archive downloads by item-type, January &#8211; June 2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr id=\"dl_title\">\n<p><u><strong>c. Downloads by\u00a0Title:<\/strong><\/u><\/p>\n<p>Of the 309,074 downloads from ERA over the first six-months of 2019, the most popular title only accounted for 2% of them (6,139). The nine remaining titles in the top 10, accounted for a further 14,440 downloads (4.7%); the top 10 as a whole therefore, accounted for just 6.7%.<\/p>\n<p>The Top 10:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>10.\u00a0&#8216;<em>Angels in Islam: a commentary with selected translations of Jal\u0101l al-D\u012bn al-Suy\u016b\u1e6d\u012b\u2019s Al-\u1e24ab\u0101\u2019ik f\u012b akhb\u0101r almal\u0101\u2019ik (The Arrangement of the Traditions about Angels)<\/em>&#8216;\u00a0by\u00a0Burge, Stephen Russell.<br \/>&nbsp;\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<strong>Item-type:<\/strong> Thesis or Dissertation<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Creation Date:<\/strong> 2010<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Date Accessioned:<\/strong>\u00a028\/10\/2010<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Downloads:<\/strong>\u00a0784 in 2019 \/\u00a04,810 in total (16%)<br \/>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<strong>Audience (2019):<\/strong> <span style=\"background-color: #7FB3D5\">USA (20%)<\/span> | <span style=\"background-color: #F5B7B1\">UK (17%)<\/span> | India (5%)<br \/>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0&nbsp;<strong>Peak:<\/strong> 152 June 2019<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0URL:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/1842\/4110\">http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/1842\/4110<\/a><\/li>\n<hr>\n<li>09.\u00a0&#8216;<em>Ethnicity and Power in Ethiopia<\/em>&#8216;\u00a0by\u00a0Vaughan, Sarah.<br \/>&nbsp;\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<strong>Item-type:<\/strong> Thesis or Dissertation<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Creation Date:<\/strong> 2003<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Date Accessioned:<\/strong>\u00a014\/10\/2004<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Downloads:<\/strong>\u00a0787 in 2019 \/\u00a013,031 in total (6%)<br \/>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<strong>Audience (2019):<\/strong> Ethiopia (59%) | <span style=\"background-color: #A9CCE3\">USA (10%)<\/span> | <span style=\"background-color: #FDEDEC\">UK (5%)<\/span><br \/>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0&nbsp;<strong>Peak:<\/strong> 441 December 2016<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0URL:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/1842\/605\">http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/1842\/605<\/a><\/li>\n<hr>\n<li>08.\u00a0&#8216;<em>Negative space of things: a practice-based research approach to understand the role of objects in the Internet of Things<\/em>&#8216;\u00a0by\u00a0Shingleton, Duncan James.<br \/>&nbsp;\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<strong>Item-type:<\/strong> Thesis or Dissertation<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Creation Date:<\/strong> 2018<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Date Accessioned:<\/strong>\u00a006\/11\/2018<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Downloads:<\/strong>\u00a0819 in 2019 \/\u00a01,007 in total (<span style=\"background-color: #FFFF00\">81%<\/span>)<br \/>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<strong>Audience (2019):<\/strong> <span style=\"background-color: #7FB3D5\">USA (18%)<\/span> | &#8216;Unknown&#8217; (12%) | <span style=\"background-color: #FDEDEC\">UK (11%)<\/span><br \/>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0&nbsp;<strong>Peak:<\/strong> 198 March 2019<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0URL:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/1842\/33221\">http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/1842\/33221<\/a><\/li>\n<hr>\n<li>07.\u00a0&#8216;<em>Resourcing the local church: attitudes among Mozambican evangelicals towards economic dependency and self-reliance<\/em>&#8216;\u00a0by\u00a0Reeve, Richard John.<br \/>&nbsp;\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<strong>Item-type:<\/strong> Thesis or Dissertation<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Creation Date:<\/strong> 2018<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Date Accessioned:<\/strong>\u00a022\/06\/2018<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Downloads:<\/strong>\u00a0838 in 2019 \/\u00a01,323 in total (<span style=\"background-color: #FFFF00\">63%<\/span>)<br \/>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<strong>Audience (2019):<\/strong>  <span style=\"background-color: #7FB3D5\">USA (16%)<\/span> | Iran (15%)<\/span> | <span style=\"background-color: #FDEDEC\">UK (7%)<\/span><br \/>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0&nbsp;<strong>Peak:<\/strong> 205 March 2019<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0URL:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/1842\/31474\">http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/1842\/31474<\/a><\/li>\n<hr>\n<li>06.\u00a0&#8216;<em>Can we put the &#8216;poverty of aspiration&#8217; myth to bed now?<\/em>&#8216;\u00a0by\u00a0Treanor, Morag.<br \/>&nbsp;\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<strong>Item-type:<\/strong> Other<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Creation Date:<\/strong> 2017<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Date Accessioned:<\/strong>\u00a020\/12\/2017<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Downloads:<\/strong>\u00a01,002 in 2019 \/\u00a02,413 in total (42%)<br \/>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<strong>Audience (2019):<\/strong>  <span style=\"background-color: #F1948A\">UK (42%)<\/span> | Canada (29%) | <span style=\"background-color: #D6EAF8\">USA (25%)<\/span><br \/>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0&nbsp;<strong>Peak:<\/strong> 462 may 2019<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0URL:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/1842\/25787\">http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/1842\/25787<\/a><\/li>\n<hr>\n<li>05.\u00a0&#8216;<em>Soviet montage cinema as propaganda and political rhetoric<\/em>&#8216;\u00a0by\u00a0Russell, Michael.<br \/>&nbsp;\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<strong>Item-type:<\/strong> Thesis or Dissertation<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Creation Date:<\/strong> 2009<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Date Accessioned:<\/strong>\u00a027\/10\/2010<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Downloads:<\/strong>\u00a01,054 in 2019 \/\u00a010,021 in total (11%)<br \/>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<strong>Audience (2019):<\/strong> <span style=\"background-color: #7FB3D5\">USA (26%)<\/span> | <span style=\"background-color: #F5B7B1\">UK (21%)<\/span><br \/>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0&nbsp;<strong>Peak:<\/strong> 347 April 2018<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0URL:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/1842\/4084\">http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/1842\/4084<\/a><\/li>\n<hr>\n<li>04.\u00a0&#8216;<em>Digital disruption in the recording industry<\/em>&#8216;\u00a0by\u00a0Sun, Hyojung.<br \/>&nbsp;\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<strong>Item-type:<\/strong> Thesis or Dissertation<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Creation Date:<\/strong> 2017<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Date Accessioned:<\/strong>\u00a005\/10\/2017<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Downloads:<\/strong>\u00a01,637 in 2019 \/\u00a02,107 in total (<span style=\"background-color: #FFFF00\">78%<\/span>)<br \/>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<strong>Audience (2019):<\/strong> <span style=\"background-color: #7FB3D5\">USA (16%)<\/span> | <span style=\"background-color: #F5B7B1\">UK (10%)<\/span> | &#8216;Unknown&#8217; (8%)<\/span><br \/>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0&nbsp;<strong>Peak:<\/strong> 350 February 2019<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0URL:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/1842\/23631\">http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/1842\/23631<\/a><\/li>\n<hr>\n<li>03.\u00a0&#8216;<em>Study of popular Hong Kong cinema from 2001 to 2004 as resource for a contextual approach to expressions of christian faith in the public realm after the reversion to Chinese sovereignty in 1997<\/em>&#8216;\u00a0by\u00a0Yam, Chi-Keung.<br \/>&nbsp;\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<strong>Item-type:<\/strong> Thesis or Dissertation<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Creation Date:<\/strong> 2008<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Date Accessioned:<\/strong>\u00a021\/10\/2010<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Downloads:<\/strong>\u00a03,588 in 2019 \/\u00a08,656 in total (41%)<br \/>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<strong>Audience (2019):<\/strong> Iran (20%) | <span style=\"background-color: #A9CCE3\">USA (16%)<\/span> | <span style=\"background-color: #FDEDEC\">UK (5%)<\/span><br \/>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0&nbsp;<strong>Peak:<\/strong> 693 June 2019<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0URL:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/1842\/4015\">http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/1842\/4015<\/a><\/li>\n<hr>\n<li>02.\u00a0&#8216;<em>The Laird\u2019s Houses of Scotland: From the Reformation to the Industrial Revolution, 1560-1770<\/em>&#8216;\u00a0by\u00a0Strachan, Sabina Ross.<br \/>&nbsp;\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<strong>Item-type:<\/strong> Thesis or Dissertation<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Creation Date:<\/strong> 2008<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Date Accessioned:<\/strong>\u00a006\/07\/2010<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Downloads:<\/strong>\u00a03,931 in 2019 \/\u00a07,063 in total (<span style=\"background-color: #FFFF00\">56%<\/span>)<br \/>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<strong>Audience (2019):<\/strong> <span style=\"background-color: #7FB3D5\">USA (20%)<\/span> | <span style=\"background-color: #F5B7B1\">UK (09%)<\/span> | &#8216;Unknown&#8217; (7%) | Romania (7%)<\/span><br \/>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0&nbsp;<strong>Peak:<\/strong> 1,201 January 2019<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0URL:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/1842\/3485\">http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/1842\/3485<\/a><\/li>\n<hr>\n<li>01.\u00a0&#8216;<em>Civil Defence Manual of Basic Training volume II Basic Fire Fighting<\/em>&#8216;\u00a0by\u00a0Civil Defence Dept.<br \/>&nbsp;\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<strong>Item-type:<\/strong> Other<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Creation Date:<\/strong> 1949<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Date Accessioned:<\/strong>\u00a020\/09\/2011<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<strong>Downloads:<\/strong>\u00a06,139 in 2019 \/\u00a072,115 in total (9%)<br \/>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<strong>Audience (2019):<\/strong> India (33%) | Philippines (8%) | <span style=\"background-color: #FDEDEC\">UK (6%)<\/span><br \/>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0&nbsp;<strong>Peak:<\/strong> 2,272 March 2017<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0URL:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/1842\/5436\">http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/1842\/5436<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Given what we\u2019ve seen with every other measurement, and what we might expect given the nature of the material archived there, it might be presumed that ERA would display a much longer tail than Research Explorer \u2013 well, it does and it doesn\u2019t. Although ERA has a much more fragmented audience, it has a significantly smaller volume of active material: the remaining 93.3% of the non-Top 10 downloads were distributed amongst 20,501 titles (only 58% of the equivalent figure on Research Explorer); whilst 5,334 titles were only downloaded once (26%), compared to 22% in Explorer.<\/p>\n<p>The difference in the sizes of the active collections between ERA and Explorer seems emphatic, and raises the question of whether its smaller size is now restraining the amount of downloading activity on ERA? Well, at the last count ERA contained 34,718 files, so coincidentally only 59% of the archive is active. This compares to 35,442 downloaded files from 152,333 research outputs on Research Explorer (just 23% are active).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr id=\"dl_otherFactors\">\n<p><u><strong>d. Other factors:<\/strong><\/u><\/p>\n<p>ERA\u2019s \u2018mature\u2019 phase is difficult to explain from these figures: was it just coincidence that it commenced around the same time as the launch of Research Explorer and coincided with the first significant numbers of uploads from the Thesis Scanning Project hitting their stride?<\/p>\n<p>ERA\u2019s \u2018mature\u2019 phase commenced in the Jan-June 2017 block, Edinburgh Research Explorer was launched in May 2017. The number of downloads became much more stable from that time, and for an 18-month period they looked quite similar. It\u2019s only over the last year, that ERA seems to have not only been left a long way behind, but to have gone backwards. <\/p>\n<figure><a href=\"http:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/files\/2019\/08\/ERA_2c.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-555\" src=\"http:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/files\/2019\/08\/ERA_2c.png\" alt=\"Edinburgh Research Archive &amp; Edinburgh Research Explorer downloads January 2017 \u2013 June 2019\" width=\"1197\" height=\"602\" \/><\/a><figcaption style='font-size: 0.8em;line-height: 1.6em;padding: 1em 0 2em 0;width: 100%;font-style:italic'>Fig iv. Edinburgh Research Archive &amp; Edinburgh Research Explorer downloads January 2017 \u2013 June 2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure><a href=\"http:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/files\/2019\/08\/ERA_5c.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-555\" src=\"http:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/files\/2019\/08\/ERA_5c.png\" alt=\"Edinburgh Research Archive: No. of downloads per month;\nNo. of different items downloaded per month;\nCumulative no. of items uploaded from the Thesis Scanning Project; from May 2016 - June 2019\" width=\"1199\" height=\"713\" \/><\/a><figcaption style='font-size: 0.8em;line-height: 1.6em;padding: 1em 0 2em 0;width: 100%;font-style:italic'>Fig v. Edinburgh Research Archive: No. of downloads per month;<br \/>\nNo. of different items downloaded per month;<br \/>\nCumulative no. of items uploaded from the Thesis Scanning Project; from May 2016 &#8211; June 2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The monthly figures (Fig. v) suggest something more complex: ERA had already been enjoying a growth spurt, which if anything was briefly curtailed by the emergence of Explorer. Certainly it peaked in March 2017, and although the numbers fall-off in the following months, this was in line with ERA\u2019s established (and on-running) pattern of usage falling-off from April to June). That said, the decline in that year was more emphatic than any other.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, the Thesis Scanning project had started tentatively uploading theses to ERA in July of 2016, reaching 2,307 by December (see Fig. v). By the end of the following six-months this had more than doubled to 4,753. It\u2019s difficult to connect the two factors, because as has already been mentioned, ERA\u2019s figures were in the midst of their annual summer slump when the first theses were uploaded, and so it was expected that they would rise in the subsequent months. Likewise, a pattern of significantly increased activity compared to the previous year had also already been emphatically established (see Fig. vi below)<\/p>\n<figure><a href=\"http:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/files\/2019\/08\/ERA_1Xc.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-555\" src=\"http:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/files\/2019\/08\/ERA_1Xc.png\" alt=\"Edinburgh Research Explorer: monthly downloads May 2015 \u2013 April 2017; \nThesis Scanning Project uploads July 2016 - April 2017\" width=\"1199\" height=\"713\" \/><\/a><figcaption style='font-size: 0.8em;line-height: 1.6em;padding: 1em 0 2em 0;width: 100%;font-style:italic'>Fig vi. Edinburgh Research Explorer: monthly downloads May 2015 \u2013 April 2017;<br \/>\nThesis Scanning Project uploads July 2016 &#8211; April 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Thesis Scanning Project should also be a useful way of further testing the question that was raised by the pattern in Fig. iv and the previously mentioned downloads-per-title figures, is whether ERA\u2019s usage has been stymied by its smaller size? The Thesis Scanning project has so far injected 14,718 files into the archive, about 42% of the total.<\/p>\n<p>But once again, the answer is vague, Figs. v &amp; vi suggest that up until March 2017 (once again) the injection of theses into the archive on top of the normal annual growth may or may not have had an impact on the overall level of activity. There seemed to be at least a certain harmony between the different measures, a correlation would be over-stating the relationships, but in the seventeen months following, to August 2018, any such harmony was definitely diminished. Since that time, ERA has stalled and fallen back, the lack of any parallel in these later figures could suggest other factors are at play, as the number of different items being downloaded is still increasing steadily year on year.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>As was found with the data from Edinburgh Research Explorer, a sample of just 10 items will only reveal more questions and not answers, but one area where they do seem to diverge was with the currency of material. In ERA, currency is notably more significant than for Research Explorer.  Whilst it\u2019s clearly not the prime driver, two of the top 10 were from 2018, two from 2017, and 3 of those four had their peaks of downloading activity in the last six months. This makes sense because ERA is the only outlet for the majority of its materials, whereas Research Explorer is predominantly a secondary outlet.<\/p>\n<p>A factor that has not been evident in the analysis above is the quality of material \u2013 and that might mean the quality of metadata, or the readability and extractability of the text. The Top .10 most downloaded items were uploaded before, during and after the Thesis Scanning Project, but none of them originated there; eight of the ten were uploaded by the cataloguing team.<\/p>\n<p>Apart from the Civil Defence Manual the other 9 most popular items in the last six-months were all from the 21st century, and very much from the word-processing era. The majority of the scanned thesis that were uploaded  by March 2017 (when they seemed to be having have a more positive impact) were of this vintage as well.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Edinburgh Research Archive\u00a0\u2022 www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk\u00a0\u2022 ERdata: Jan. &#8211; June 2019 The first half of 2019 saw the fifth highest total of downloads from ERA over a six-month period, unfortunately this is the lowest total of its \u2018mature\u2019 phase (since Jan-Jun 2017 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/2019\/08\/27\/edinburgh-research-archive-er-data-jan-june-2019\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[8,9,13],"tags":[28,66,12,31,51],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcqGb1-d6","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/117"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=812"}],"version-history":[{"count":53,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":883,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812\/revisions\/883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}