From: Laura Brown <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Mon, 2 May 2016 20:46:18 +0000
Hi Toby and others –

I am happy to share relevant data for JSTOR with this list.

For 2015, JSTOR made 10.2 million journal articles available. We had
just over 70 million downloads (this figure excludes bots and counts
in compliance with COUNTER 4).  This includes 1.9 million downloads of
our open content (Early Journal Content) with the remainder coming
predominantly from people at nearly 10,000 institutions that license
JSTOR journal collections either for a fee or for free through our
African Access and Developing Nations Initiatives.

We also offer anyone in the world the option of registering with JSTOR
to read journal articles online for free.  To Toby’s point about
audiences being larger than one thinks, we started this program when
Google began sending significant traffic to JSTOR from beyond our
participating institutions. About 80% of the journals on JSTOR are now
available this way (some publishers have opted out of this program).
Last year, we gave this free reading option to users over 110 million
times (as a point of comparison in terms of potential audience, we
passed authenticated users into articles 147 million times).  However,
users actually took the option and registered or logged-in to read the
articles about 1.6 million times.

So our usage is higher than Sci-Hub’s, but there is more we can do.
We recognize and have benefited from the reality that use is a
function of convenience in our core community and the growing one
outside.  Even our small registration barrier can be too high for some
people.  Users simply expect access to be as easy as possible,
especially when they know what they are looking for.  We have no
illusions about this fact and see delivery of a fantastic, easy,
multi-device experience as the bar we should be aiming for at JSTOR,
for institutional and unaffiliated users alike. We are pursuing this
reality in a way that respects the rights of others and that takes
into account the other things that matter beyond frictionless delivery
of a PDF. These include structured data – mentioned in the Science
article, preservation, reliable long-term access, and the ability to
invest new resources in continuing to bring content from the past
online in useful ways.  JSTOR digitized 4.3 million pages of new
content last year and, with the investment of those institutions that
contributed fees to JSTOR, has digitized 63 million over the last 20
years.

It is not easy but I am optimistic we can find ways to continue to
invest as a community in the things that matter even as access becomes
more convenient for everyone.

Laura Brown
JSTOR Managing Director