The UK Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards will meet next week to discuss findings of a study on how newspaper Web sites gather traffic data, Journalism.co.uk reported.

The committee decides how online measurement standards are developed, and in May ordered a review on how the Audit Bureau of Circulation Electronic (ABCe) audits newspaper Web site traffic.

ABCe allows several different technologies to collect the traffic data, which are then compared side-by-side. Because how data is collected varies, many across the industry believe the final results are not accurate, according to Journalism.co.uk.

Newspaper publishers are allowed to choose one of the ABCe-approved technologies to track the online data, but newspaper groups earlier this year became wary of the system when Telegraph.co.uk gained more than six million unique users in two months, after it switched from one approved technology to another approved technology. The first tool was HBX SiteCatalyst, and the second the Telegraph used, was WebTrends7 On Demand, Journalism.co.uk reported. The Telegraph maintains the traffic increase was due to its quality editorial offerings, but rival groups remain skeptical.

The Web standards committee passed the matter on to its Internet Technical Group for further review, which will report back to the committee next week. The group is expected to give recommendations on usage of the analytic tools.