Cookies
To help improve this site we place small files, known as cookies, onto your computer. Some are essential for the site to work properly, others are to improve the experience you have.
You can stop this site using non-essential cookies by updating your browser settings.
You can also decide to stop this or any site from using any cookies. To learn more about cookies and how to manage them visit AboutCookies.org.
Change cookie preference
You can change your cookie preference on openathens.net by clicking this button:
How we use cookies
We use cookies for several purposes on this website (openathens.net) – we’ve listed each of them below with more details about why we use them and how long they’ll last.
For details of the cookies we use on the operational parts of our OpenAthens service, visit the cookie page for products and services.
Cookies to improve your experience
You can tell us to stop using these at any time by updating your browser settings.
Essential cookies
Website operation
The system that runs our website sets cookies to allow it to run smoothly.
| Name | Category | Expiration | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| cookie_notice_accepted | Necessary | 1 month | Stores your cookie consent state for this website. |
Measuring website usage (Google Analytics)
We use Google Analytics to collect information about how people use our site, and rough demographics as to what groups of people are using our site. We do this to make sure it’s meeting your needs and to understand how we could improve it. As well as controlling this above – you can opt out of Google Analytics tracking directly.
Google Analytics stores information about:
- the pages you visit
- how long you spend on each page
- how you got to the site
- what you click on while you’re here
The following cookies are set by Google Analytics:
| Name | Category | Expiration | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| _ga | Performance | 2 years | This cookie is associated with Google Universal Analytics. It is used to distinguish unique users by assigning a randomly generated number as a client identifier. It is included in each page request in a site and used to calculate visitor, session, and campaign data for the site's analytics reports. |
Measuring website usage (Hotjar)
Hotjar cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our website. This might include what you are doing on our website and how you are interacting with it. We use this to better understand how people experience our website, so we can improve our features and user experience. For further details, please see the ‘about Hotjar’ section of Hotjar’s support site. You can opt-out of Hotjar cookies on the Hotjar website.
The following cookies are set by Hotjar:
| Name | Category | Expiration | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| _hjid | Performance | 1 year | Hotjar cookie. This cookie is set when you first land on a page with the Hotjar script. It is used to persist a random user ID, unique to that site on the browser. This ensures that behavior in subsequent visits to the same site will be attributed to the same user ID. |
| _hjTLDTest | Necessary | Session | When the Hotjar script executes we try to determine the most generic cookie path we should use, instead of the page hostname. This is done so that cookies can be shared across subdomains (where applicable). To determine this, we try to store the _hjTLDTest cookie for different URL substring alternatives until it fails. After this check, the cookie is removed. |
| _hjFirstSeen | Necessary | 30 minutes | The cookie is set so Hotjar can track the beginning of your user journey for a total session count. It does not contain any identifiable information. |
| _hjIncludedInPageviewSample | Necessary | 2 minutes | This cookie is set to let Hotjar know whether you're included in the data sampling defined by this site's pageview limit. |
| _hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress | Necessary | 30 minutes | The cookie is set so Hotjar can track the beginning of your user journey for a total session count. It does not contain any identifiable information. |
| _hjIncludedInSessionSample | Necessary | 2 minutes | This cookie is set to let Hotjar know whether you're included in the data sampling defined by this site's daily session limit |
Measuring website usage (Matomo)
Our website uses Matomo to gather usage information which helps us understand how the website is being used and identify areas for improvement. Matomo is an open-source analytics tool and an alternative to Google Analytics. You can find out more about Matomo on their website: https://matomo.org/about. Matomo respects any ‘do not track’ settings in your web browser.
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| _pk_ref | Used to store the attribution information, the referrer initially used to visit the website | 6 months |
| _pk_cvar | Short lived cookies used to temporarily store data for the visit | 30 minutes |
| _pk_id | Used to store a few details about the user such as their unique visitor ID | 13 months |
| _pk_ses | Short lived cookies used to temporarily store data for the visit | 30 minutes |
| mtm_cookie_consent | Records you have consented to Matomo tracking your activities | 30 years |
| mtm_consent | Records you have consented to Matomo tracking your activities using the opt in button | 30 years |
| mtm_consent_removed | Records that you have removed consent for Matomo to track your activities using the opt out button | 30 years |
NB: Cookie guidance wording adapted from gov.uk, shared under the Open Government License.