I could not find anything via serch:

On the OW Award they count miles from where you start to where you finish. They do not count connections.

What about the paid exploere fare that is based on miles flewn?

Is it best to but this with AA or another OW carrier?

oneworld Explorer - 20 segments

Global Explorer - miles based

More info

I imagine you're referring to the Global Explorer fare? This is an around-the-world fare, at 26/29/34/39K mile levels (though only 34K avail in F/J). Obviously connections have to count (otherwise any RTW would be a flat ~25K miles!) but I don't know if it's all connections or just stopovers. The ticket can be purchased with any participating airline (this fare is valid on more than just the OW airlines) in most cases.

The link I posted above has a lot of the basic info.

Beyond that, any additional questions should be posted in the OneWorld forum here on FT. Good luck.

Also take a look at the OneWorld Explorer fare, which is what most of the people on FT use. It's priced by the number of continents you visit as opposed to the distance you fly but is only valid on OneWorld airlines for the most part.

The oneworld Forum is the best place for this thread, and there are some exceptionally knowledgeabble FT members and useful threads. And I don't even have to use miles to move it over there.

GE mileage is computed for all segments, both stopover and transit. Advantage of GE is being able to route on more airlines (e.g. JL and MA are now included in GE but not in OWE) and more routing flexibility in the rules. Disadvantage is that OWE allows roughly twice as many miles travel for the same price (so price per mile is double on GE compared to OWE).