The image below comes from IRRODL and relates to a paper one of my students and I published a month ago: http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/author/submission/755 (Veletsianos, G., & Kleanthous, I. (2009). A review of adventure learning. The International Review Of Research In Open And Distance Learning, 10(6), 84-105)

Even though numerous other metrics could be added to gauge readership, impact, and interest of an academic paper (e.g. pdf downloads, # repeat visitors,  citation counts, and social media references) this is a step towards the right direction. Making such data publicly available would further benefit the academic community :)