[Eril-l] issues with ScienceDirect article downloads

[Diane Westerfield]

I never noticed this before, and just tried a search. From the individual article screen, I saw “Recommended articles” on the right side bar with a list of 3 articles. When I downloaded the PDF, it opened in a new window; in the original window, there’s a popup with those 3 recommended articles and a button at the top saying “Download 3 PDFs”. At the bottom of the popup window there’s a button “Do not show again.”

We have a big subscription package through a consortium so it probably doesn’t hit us in the pocket, but could artificially inflate JR1 stats.


Diane Westerfield, Electronic Resources & Serials Librarian
Tutt Library, Colorado College
diane.westerfield at coloradocollege.edu<mailto:diane.westerfield at coloradocollege.edu>
(719) 389-6661



From: Eril-l [mailto:eril-l-bounces at lists.eril-l.org] On Behalf Of Steve Oberg
Sent: Monday, March 13, 2017 9:09 AM
To: eril-l
Subject: [Eril-l] issues with ScienceDirect article downloads

Cross-posting to SERIALST and ERIL-L.

We’ve recently noticed the introduction of a new “feature” in ScienceDirect, described by a user below. Has anyone else noticed this and had any success in getting it turned off? Since our ScienceDirect access is mostly unmediated pay-per-view (PPV), with few direct subscriptions, and we are seeing skyrocketing demand, this is particularly problematic for us.

"First, I think when I clicked to download the one article I wanted, it offered me the options of downloading all articles in the issue. Then, when I click on no, just this article, a window popped up and said others who downloaded this article also downloaded, and then gave me the one article I wanted plus two others. Download all? It asked, with the three boxes pre-checked with a yes.”

It seems doubtful that Elsevier would readily turn off this “feature” and I also wonder if it is possible for them to track how frequently users follow through on downloading extra stuff, but clearly, the “feature” is designed to encourage and enable increased amounts of downloads.

Steve

Steve Oberg
Assistant Professor of Library Science
Resource Description and Digital Initiatives
Wheaton College (IL)
+1 (630) 752-5852

NASIG Vice-President/President-Elect
[cid:image001.png at 01D29C0F.49F85660]

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.eril-l.org/pipermail/eril-l-eril-l.org/attachments/20170313/d888c530/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 17489 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://lists.eril-l.org/pipermail/eril-l-eril-l.org/attachments/20170313/d888c530/attachment-0001.png>