COUNTER Metrics Releases Findings from AI Usage Consultation

COUNTER Metrics has released takeaways from its draft consultation on best practices for tracking AI usage. 

The consultation period began in December 2025, when COUNTER Metrics, in response to the increasing use of agentic AI in research, released draft guidelines for tracking AI activity on publisher platforms. Librarians, publishers, technology providers, and other stakeholders were invited to provide feedback. COUNTER extended the consultation period in February to incorporate outputs from conversations held at the recent NISO Plus meeting in Baltimore, where measuring AI usage was a hot topic. (COUNTER Executive Director Tasha Mellins-Cohen presented findings from the consultation during the NISO Plus  pre-conference “Tracking Usage in the Age of AI.”)

Feedback underscored the need for a new access method, Agent, in COUNTER reports. Respondents also emphasized the importance of distinguishing between different types of agentic AI activity, helping librarians to separate user-driven activity from bot activity and better assess the value of scholarly content. 

Read the full announcement on the COUNTER website.