Unreliable citation counts (fl_count) - OpenURL, REST API, OAI-PMH, depositor reports

Several users have identified inconsistencies in fl_counts (OPENURL) and citedby-counts (REST API) being returned.

Here are some examples:

https://doi.crossref.org/openurl/?pid=email@email.com&id=doi:10.1021/jacs.9b06634&noredirect=true

I get either an fl_count of 5 or 943206921 when refreshing the query.

Similarly: http://doi.crossref.org/search/doi?pid=email@email.org&format=unixsd&doi=10.33590%2F%2Femjresp%2F19-00103

Screen_Shot_2020-03-10_at_2.55.39_PM

Screen_Shot_2020-03-10_at_2.53.48_PM

Over in the REST API, we're getting similar inconsistencies in the citedby-counts: http://api.crossref.org/works/10.29033/ei.v2n2.2017.07/transform/application/vnd.crossref.unixsd+xml

I get either a citedby-count of 0 or 825702965. NB: this data is not coming from the REST API, it is reverse proxied via cayenne to doi.crossref.org/search/doi

Screen_Shot_2020-03-10_at_8.47.38_AM

Screen_Shot_2020-03-10_at_8.47.30_AM

And, an example from OAI-PMH:

http://oai.crossref.org/OAIHandler?verb=ListRecords&metadataPrefix=cr_unixsd&set=J&from=2020-03-06&until=2020-03-06&set=10:1163:3311485

One of the early records in the result contains this:

<record>

<header>

<identifier>info:doi/10.1088/0264-9381/19/1/309</identifier>

<datestamp>2020-03-06</datestamp>

<setSpec>J</setSpec>

<setSpec>J:10.1088</setSpec>

<setSpec>J:10.1088:4916</setSpec>

</header>

<metadata>

<crossref_result version="3.0" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.crossref.org/qrschema/3.0 http://www.crossref.org/schemas/crossref_query_output3.0.xsd" xmlns="http://www.crossref.org/qrschema/3.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">

<query_result>

<head>

<doi_batch_id>none</doi_batch_id>

</head>

<body>

<crossref_metadata>

<doi type="journal_article">10.1088/0264-9381/19/1/309</doi>

<crm-item name="publisher-name" type="string">IOP Publishing</crm-item>

<crm-item name="prefix-name" type="string">IOP Publishing</crm-item>

<crm-item name="member-id" type="number">266</crm-item>

<crm-item name="citation-id" type="number">3645326</crm-item>

<crm-item name="journal-id" type="number">4916</crm-item>

<crm-item name="deposit-timestamp" type="number">2020030615514032</crm-item>

<crm-item name="owner-prefix" type="string">10.1088</crm-item>

<crm-item name="last-update" type="date">2020-03-06T15:58:17Z</crm-item>

<crm-item name="created" type="date">2002-08-25T03:22:39Z</crm-item>

<crm-item name="citedby-count" type="number">758133280</crm-item> <-

<doi_record>

<crossref xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.crossref.org/xschema/1.1 http://doi.crossref.org/schemas/unixref1.1.xsd" xmlns="http://www.crossref.org/xschema/1.1">

<journal>

<journal_metadata>

<full_title>Classical and Quantum Gravity</full_title>

<abbrev_title>Class. Quantum Grav.</abbrev_title>

<issn media_type="print">0264-9381</issn>

<issn media_type="electronic">1361-6382</issn>

</journal_metadata>

Please notice the citedby-count value of 758,133,280

Definition of done

  • Knowledge base reviewed and updated
  • Open questions to be answered in this issue
    • Does CDDB forward its request onto Oracle if it can't find the citation count?
    • Does the snapshot contain any unexpected incorrect counts?
  • Acceptance criteria met
    • If a bug is found, this bug is fixed such that correct citation counts are displayed in the above views

Notes

Zendesk tickets: 163713, 164040

Edited by Patrick Polischuk