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Directory of Open Access Books

DOAB Foundation
Netherlands
Website (Opens in new window) Pricing Info (Opens in new window)

About

Launched: 2012
Record Updated: Oct 19, 2026
Discovery system
Index or directory
DOAB is a community-driven discovery service that indexes and provides access to scholarly, peer-reviewed open access (OA) books and helps users to find trusted open access book publishers. All DOAB services are free of charge and all data is freely available.
Research Organization Registry (Opens in new window)

Domain Relevance

  • Agricultural biotechnology
  • Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries
  • Animal and dairy science
  • Arts (arts, history of arts, performing arts, music)
  • Basic medicine
  • Biological sciences
  • Chemical engineering
  • Chemical sciences
  • Civil engineering
  • Clinical medicine
  • Computer and information sciences
  • Earth and related environmental sciences
  • Economics and business
  • Educational sciences
  • Electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering
  • Environmental biotechnology
  • Environmental engineering
  • Generalist (no disciplinary-focus)
  • Health biotechnology
  • Health sciences
  • History and archaeology
  • Industrial biotechnology
  • Languages and literature
  • Law
  • Materials engineering
  • Mathematics
  • Mechanical engineering
  • Media and communications
  • Medical engineering
  • Nano technology
  • Other agricultural sciences
  • Other engineering and technologies
  • Other humanities
  • Other medical sciences
  • Other natural sciences
  • Other social sciences
  • Philosophy, ethics and religion
  • Physical sciences
  • Political science
  • Psychology
  • Social and economic geography
  • Sociology
  • Veterinary science

Mission

DOAB’s mission is to curate a global, open, and trusted index of open scholarly books.

Key Achievements

  • 2019: Established as an independent not-for-profit Dutch Foundation, jointly governed and managed by OAPEN and OpenEdition; selected for the second SCOSS funding campaign cycle (jointly with OAPEN).
  • 2021: Migration to DSpace (via the EU-funded OPERAS-P project); Scientific Committee launched; exceeds 50,000 records of OA books.
  • 2022: Peer Review Information Service for Monographs (PRISM) is launched.
  • 2023: Celebrating 10 years since launch.
  • 2024: Servers moved to be hosted in CERN's Data Center.
  • 2025: Exceeds 100,000 records of OA books.

    • Technical Attributes

    Maintenance Status

    Actively Maintained

    Technical Documentation

    Implemented
    DOAB metadata (Opens in new window) PRISM: Peer Review Information Service for Monographs (Opens in new window) PRISM Vocabulary (Opens in new window)

    Open API

    Implemented
    Website (Opens in new window)

    Open Data Statement

    Implemented
    Website (Opens in new window)

    Open Product Roadmap

    In Progress

    Technical Attribute Statements

    Technology Readiness Level

    • Actual system proven in operational environment

    Content Licensing

    • Creative commons licenses
    • Other
    Other:
    CC0 (public domain)

    Standards

    Metadata

    • Atom
    • JSON
    • KBART
    • MARC
    • MARC XML
    • OAI-PMH
    • ONIX
    • REST
    • RIS
    Other:
    CSV

    Persistent Identifier

    • ORCiD

    Service Providers

    Integrations

    • Creative Commons Licenses
    • DSpace
    • Fulcrum
    • OAPEN Library
    • Zenodo
    • Other
    Other:
    List of external organisations using DOAB metadata: https://doabooks.org/en/librarians/doab-metadata#WHO.
    Integrations with Trusted Platform Network Partners: https://doabooks.org/en/trusted-platform-network/trusted-platform-network.

    Community Engagement

    Code of Conduct

    Implemented
    Website (Opens in new window)

    Community Engagement

    Implemented

    Contribution Guidelines or Fora

    Implemented
    DOAB sponsorship (Opens in new window)

    Community Statements

    User Contribution Pathways

    • Contribute funds
    • Contribute to documentation
    • Contribute to working groups or interest groups

    Community Engagement Activities

    • Annual meetings
    • Blogs
    • Conference participation
    • Interest, working, user, or advisory groups
    • Mailing lists and discussion forums (including Slack)
    • Social media
    • Staff roles with responsibility for community engagement
    • Volunteer or ambassador network
    • Webinars and training

    Engagement with Values Frameworks

    • Principles for Open Scholarly Infrastructure (POSI)

    SCOSS Participation

    Yes

    Policies & Governance

    Governance Summary

    The Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) was established by the OAPEN Foundation in 2012. Today, the Directory of Open Access Books is a service of DOAB Foundation. DOAB Foundation is a non-profit legal entity under Dutch law ("Stichting"), established by OAPEN Foundation and OpenEdition in 2019. It's governed by an Executive Board, Supervisory Board, DOAB Scientific Committee, and a community of supporting libraries.

    Policies

    Bylaws

    Implemented
    Scientific Committee Terms of Reference (Opens in new window)

    Commitment to Equity & Inclusion

    Implemented
    View more in our annual reports (Opens in new window)

    Privacy Policy

    Implemented
    Accessibility and policies (Opens in new window)

    Web Accessibility Statement

    Implemented
    Applies to Solution
    Applies to Website
    Accessibility and policies (Opens in new window)

    Governance Records

    Implemented
    Annual Reports (Opens in new window) Purpose and Governance (Opens in new window)

    Governance Structure & Processes

    Implemented
    Purpose and Governance (Opens in new window)

    Transparent Pricing and Cost Expectations

    Implemented
    Website (Opens in new window)

    Policy Statements

    Access Conditions

    • Open without restrictions

    Board Structure

    • Advisory board or steering committee
    • Multi-board governance

    Community Governance

    • Formal

    Additional Information

    Organizational History

    The Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) was established by OAPEN Foundation in 2012 (launched in 2013), inspired by the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).
    In 2019 DOAB was established as an independent Dutch not-for-profit foundation ('Stichting' - cannot be sold or acquired by law) jointly managed and governed by OAPEN and OpenEdition (CNRS and Aix-Marseille Université). This helped DOAB become more international, diverse, and resilient.

    Organizational Structure

    Business or Ownership Model

    Non-profit organization

    Full-time Staff

    11-20

    Current Affiliations

    • OAPEN, OpenEdition, CNRS, and Aix-Marseille Université.

    Funding

    Primary Funding Source

    • Contributions
    • Other
    Other:
    Sponsorships

    Revenue Sources

    • Corporate sponsorship
    • Grants (public)
    • In-kind contributions
    • Institutional memberships

    Funding Needs

    Further funding will ensure that a truly and fully open infrastructure for academic books will contine to be available as a trust-worthy, effecient, not-for-profit, and community-led alternative to proprietary and commercial services.

    Further funding is needed to make DOAB a truly global service advancing equitable open access scholarly publishing and distribution. This requires:



    1. Resilient technical infrastructure.
    2. Global outreach and engagement.
    3. Establishing a global partner network
    4. Evaluation guidelines and training
    5. Development of efficient and trust-based workflows centrally and locally (with partners).

    DOAB has two funding streams for its operations:



    1. Library support (~90%)
    2. Sponsorships (~10%)
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