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Thoth Open Metadata

Thoth Open Metadata
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Website (Opens in new window) Pricing Info (Opens in new window)

About

Launched: 2020
Record Updated: Oct 19, 2026
Format conversion tool or service
Open scholarly dataset
Publishing system
Thoth Open Metadata is a community-led, non-profit metadata management and dissemination platform for open access books and chapters, built for small and medium-sized independent, scholar-led, university and library publishers. Publishers enter their metadata once, and Thoth exports it in the platform-specific formats required by libraries, aggregators, repositories and discovery services.
The core platform, Thoth Oasis, is free and includes full metadata management and export. Three subscription packages build on it: Obelisk for dissemination, Crossref DOI deposit and permanent open archiving in multiple repositories; Sphinx for privacy-first usage statistics; and Pyramid for branded website and catalogue hosting. All metadata is released under a CC0 public-domain dedication, and all of Thoth's software is open source.
Research Organization Registry (Opens in new window)

Domain Relevance

  • Generalist (no disciplinary-focus)

Mission

Thoth is uniquely designed as a metadata management and distribution platform to address the complexities and hurdles involved in integrating Open Access works into the book supply chain.
Our mission is:

  • To lower the entry barrier to good metadata management and practices for small/medium OA publishers who are currently struggling to produce their metadata to all the various different specifications that each distributing platform requires;
  • To help distribute Open Access books, which have been systematically excluded from a book supply chain that was created for closed books;
  • To expose quality and first-hand metadata, using industry standards, publicly for anyone to consume.

Key Achievements

Thoth 1.0, released on 1 April 2026, introduced a new interface and backend, a multilingual metadata model, a user interface and documentation in English, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese and German, accessibility metadata, bulk ingest, direct content upload, an OAI-PMH endpoint and a publisher metrics dashboard.
More than 100 independent, scholar-led, university and library publishers from Latin America, the US, the UK and Europe use Thoth, which holds records for more than 6,200 books and 20,700 chapters (October 2026). Partners include the Open Book Collective, for which Thoth provides a collective catalogue, as well as OAPEN, DOAB, PKP's OMP, Crossref and OPERAS. More than 30 libraries support Thoth via the Open Book Collective.
In January 2026, Thoth published International Metadata Recommendations and Platform-Specific Requirements for Open Access Books and Chapters (doi:10.5281/zenodo.18173982), and was nominated for the 2026 ALPSP Award for Innovation in Publishing.

Technical Attributes

Maintenance Status

Actively Maintained

Open Code Repository

Implemented
Thoth's source code on Github (Opens in new window)

Technical Documentation

Implemented
Website (Opens in new window)

Code License

Implemented
Website (Opens in new window)

Open API

Implemented
Thoth GraphQL API explorer (GraphiQL) (Opens in new window) Thoth Metadata Export API (Opens in new window)

Open Data Statement

Implemented
Provision of Data (Opens in new window)

Technical Attribute Statements

Programming Languages

  • rust

Technology Readiness Level

  • Actual system proven in operational environment

Code Licenses Used

  • Apache License, Version 2.0

Content Licensing

  • Creative commons licenses
  • Traditional copyright

Standards

Metadata

  • JSON
  • KBART
  • MARC
  • MARC XML
  • OAI-PMH
  • ONIX
  • SWORD
Other:
ONIX 2.1, ONIX 3.0 and ONIX 3.1 (in multiple platform-specific flavours), MARC21 and MARCXML, KBART, Crossref XML DOI deposit records for books and chapters, JSON, CSV and BibTeX. Crossmark is fully implemented in the data schema. A dedicated OAI-PMH endpoint has been available since Thoth 1.0 (April 2026). Records support multilingual titles, abstracts and contributor biographies, as well as accessibility metadata. Subject classification is supported via Thema, BIC, BISAC and LCC [check list]. The main Thoth API is queried via GraphQL, and a separate Export API provides format-specific outputs.

Persistent Identifier

  • ORCiD
  • Research Organization Registry
Other:
DOIs for books and chapters, registered via Crossref, for which Thoth acts as a Sponsor. ISBNs.

Security

Thoth is hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS), and AWS-level security standards apply to the underlying infrastructure. A Thoth-specific statement will be linked here once published. It covers user accounts and authentication, the handling of logs and analytics data, and security incident response.

Metrics

  • COUNTER 5
Other:
Thoth provides cross-platform usage statistics through its Sphinx service package:
privacy-first analytics across all platforms Thoth distributes to;
title-level usage widgets;
a publisher metrics dashboard drawing on OPERAS Metrics and other sources.
The quality of usage data depends on the platforms providing it: some are COUNTER-compliant, while others, such as Google Analytics, are not.

Hosting Options

  • Through solution only

Integrations

  • COUNTER Code of Practice
  • Creative Commons Licenses
  • Crossref
  • Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB)
  • DSpace
  • ePrints
  • Fulcrum
  • Invenio RDM
  • Journal Article Tag Suite (JATS)
  • OA Switchboard
  • OAPEN Library
  • Open Monograph Press (OMP)
  • Pressbooks
  • Research Organization Registry (ROR)
  • Zenodo
  • Other
Other:
Internet Archive, Figshare, Open Book Collective, OPERAS Metrics, Project MUSE, JSTOR, Jisc National Bibliographic Knowledgebase (NBK), Google Play Books. A programmatic data exchange with Pressbooks is currently in development.

Community Engagement

Code of Conduct

Implemented
Website (Opens in new window)

Community Engagement

Implemented
Website (Opens in new window)

Community Statements

User Contribution Pathways

  • Contribute funds
  • Contribute to code
  • Contribute to documentation
  • Contribute to governance
  • Contribute to user research or user testing
  • Contribute to working groups or interest groups

Community Engagement Activities

  • Annual meetings
  • Blogs
  • Community calls
  • Conference participation
  • Interest, working, user, or advisory groups
  • Social media
  • User research
  • Webinars and training

Engagement with Values Frameworks

  • CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance
  • COAR Next Generation Repositories Principles
  • FAIR Guiding Principles for Scientific Data Management and Stewardship
  • FOREST Framework for Values-Driven Scholarly Communication
  • Helsinki Initiative on Multilingualism
  • It Takes a Village Open Source Software Sustainability toolkit
  • Principles for Open Scholarly Infrastructure (POSI)

Policies & Governance

Governance Summary

Thoth Open Metadata is a UK Community Interest Company (CIC) limited by guarantee, incorporated in 2022. This ensures that the community's interests are met, that no private gain such as dividends is sought, and that any surplus or assets are used principally for the benefit of the community. As a "large membership" CIC, Thoth's members have ultimate control over its activities, collectively decide how the membership grows, and approve the appointment of the Board of Directors. The Board is responsible for the proper management of the company and is drawn from community-led open access initiatives, including the Open Book Collective, Open Book Publishers and punctum books. A statutory asset lock means that, if the company is wound up, its assets must pass to the asset-locked body named in its Articles of Association, and Thoth cannot be sold to commercial actors. A consolidated governance and membership overview is in preparation for thoth.pub.

Policies

Bylaws

Implemented
Website (Opens in new window)

Commitment to Equity & Inclusion

In Progress

Privacy Policy

Implemented
Website (Opens in new window)

Web Accessibility Statement

In Progress

Governance Records

Implemented
Our Governance (Opens in new window)

Governance Structure & Processes

Implemented
Website (Opens in new window)

Transparent Pricing and Cost Expectations

Implemented
Website (Opens in new window)

Policy Statements

Access Conditions

  • Open without restrictions
  • Registration required

Board Structure

  • Other
Board of Directors

Board Level

  • Other
The Board of Directors is responsible for the overall management of the non-profit CIC.

Community Governance

  • Formal

Additional Information

Organizational History

Thoth emerged from the COPIM project (2019–23) and was incorporated as a CIC in 2022. Its founding members are the Open Book Collective, ScholarLed, Open Book Publishers and punctum books. From 2023 until the project's end in April 2026, Thoth was a key stakeholder in Copim Open Book Futures, funded by the Research England Development Fund/UKRI and Arcadia. Thoth is now sustained by its free platform, subscription and bespoke services, and library support via the Open Book Collective.
Thoth is a Crossref Sponsor and Advanced Service Provider, and a member of OPERAS, OASPA, AEUP and UKSG. It takes part in the Barcelona Declaration community of practice, COMET and the OPERAS Open Infrastructures for OA Books Working Group. Its work in Copim's Archiving & Digital Preservation Group produced the Open Archiving Criteria and the Preserving Openness report. In Q1 2026, Thoth conducted a self-assessment against POSI v2.0: https://doi.org/10.70950/sllm9969

Organizational Structure

Business or Ownership Model

Non-profit organization

Full-time Staff

1-5

Volunteers

0

Non-profit Status

Community interest company (CIC)

Current Affiliations

Copim Community; Open Book Collective; OPERAS; OASPA; Association of European University Presses (AEUP); UKSG; Crossref (Sponsor); Crossref (Service Provider, Advanced tier).

Funding

Primary Funding Source

  • Contributions

Revenue Sources

  • Earned/commercial revenue
  • Grants (private)
  • Grants (public)
  • In-kind contributions
  • Individual memberships
  • Institutional memberships
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