The University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) has reported significant figures this year regarding the impact of its online publications. The USC Digital Library registered 1,100,000 visits since January 1st, with a daily average of 5,000 and peaks of 15,000 visits on a single day. Of the 1,700 available titles, more than half are in free open access, which may explain the high demand.
The commercial aspect of the Digital Library also shows positive results, with an average purchase of 6.04 euros per registered user and a total of 250 orders. This figure is considered "far from negligible" by the Director of USC Editions, Juan L. Blanco Valdés, given the competition from platforms like Amazon.
Regarding the USC's Digital Journal Portal, the data is even more striking. During the same period, the portal recorded 6,019,606 visits and 7,085,965 downloads of articles. Publications such as Innovación Educativa, Ágora. Papeles de Filosofía, and Estudios Penales y Criminológicos each exceed half a million downloaded articles.
Juan L. Blanco Valdés emphasized that these figures represent an "enormous volume" of research and knowledge transfer generated at USC. Beyond aligning the institution with national and European open science directives, these numbers highlight the value and scope of the university press in terms of impact, dissemination, and internationalization of research, culture, and knowledge produced at USC.
