DOAB metadata

DOAB provides a variety of ways to access and distribute metadata for the books in our directory. From downloadable metadata feeds and OAI-PMH harvesting to selective exports and API access, librarians and service providers can easily integrate high-quality OA book metadata into their own systems and workflows.

Metadata feeds

All metadata is openly available under a CC0 license in the following formats:

MARCXML – based on the MARC 21 XML Schema, can be converted easily using MARCEdit

https://memo.doabooks.org/file/oapen/DOAB_MARCXML.xml - The contents of DOAB in MARCXML format.

KBART – tab delimited text file

https://memo.doabooks.org/file/oapen/DOAB_KBART.tsv - Metadata of DOAB in KBART format - separated with TAB characters.

https://memo.doabooks.org/file/oapen/DOAB_KBART_books.tsv - Metadata of the books in DOAB in KBART format - separated with TAB characters.

https://memo.doabooks.org/file/oapen/DOAB_KBART_books_with_download_url.tsv - Task based on the all_books_with_download_link query. It creates a KBART file (TSV) containing only books with download URLs.

ONIX (3.0) – XML

https://memo.doabooks.org/file/oapen/DOAB_ONIX.xml - DOAB export in ONIX file format.

JSON – JavaScript Object Notation

https://memo.doabooks.org/file/oapen/DOAB.json - All full text titles of DOAB as a JSON file.

CSV – comma delimited text file

https://memo.doabooks.org/file/oapen/DOAB.csv - DOAB metadata in CSV format.

OAI-PMH harvesting

DOAB supports the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH).

Base URL: https://directory.doabooks.org/oai/.

OAI-PMH request endpoint: https://directory.doabooks.org/oai/request.

To view all available metadata formats, use the ListMetadataFormats request: https://directory.doabooks.org/oai/request?verb=ListMetadataFormats.

Several metadata formats are available. The xoai format provides the full set of metadata fields available in DOAB.

To retrieve records in the xoai format, use: https://directory.doabooks.org/oai/request?verb=ListRecords&metadataPrefix=xoai.

To retrieve a specific DOAB record, use the GetRecord request. For example: https://directory.doabooks.org/oai/request?verb=GetRecord&identifier=oai:doabooks.org:20.500.12854/26303&metadataPrefix=xoai.

RSS and Atom feeds

All metadata feeds are openly available CC0 1.0.

Selective Export

It is also possible to use our Selective Export functionality. This allows you to export metadata in a flexible way by first selecting the relevant titles and then choosing the export format. The Selective Export function is particularly useful for specialist libraries, subject repositories, and other users who wish to retrieve specific subsets of open access books according to their needs, for example by publisher or subject area. Please note that this functionality is optimised for sets of up to 500 titles. We recommend using the CSV format, as this is the format currently supported for the Selective Export workflow.

More information can be found in this short guide.

REST API

The REST API allows users to search DOAB records and retrieve metadata in JSON or XML format.

Quick start

Use the following endpoint to search DOAB: [https://directory.doabooks.org/rest/search?query=[search query]](https://directory.doabooks.org/rest/search?query=[search query])

Search queries must be URL-encoded. For example:

spaces can be represented by +
quotation marks by %22
ampersands by %26

A successful request returns HTTP status code 200.

Basic search

Full-text search

Search for records containing two specific topics, for example, water and fire: https://directory.doabooks.org/rest/search?query=water+AND+fire.

Search by title

Search the dc.title field for the exact title, for example, ‘The deliverance of open access books’: https://directory.doabooks.org/rest/search?query=dc.title:%22the+deliverance+of+open+access+books%22.

Search by Handle

Search for a specific DOAB Handle: https://directory.doabooks.org/rest/search?query=handle:%2220.500.12854/26303%22.

A successful request returns HTTP status code 200.

PRISM peer review metadata

PRISM (Peer Review Information Service for Monographs) peer review information is available through two methods.

PRISM API

The PRISM API can be used to retrieve peer review information for a specific book or publisher: https://directory.doabooks.org/rest/peerReviews.

A request must include exactly one of the following parameters:

doi – DOI of a book
isbn – ISBN of a book
pId – publisher legacy ID or publisher UUID
title – publisher name

Example request using a DOI: https://directory.doabooks.org/rest/peerReviews?doi=10.3998/tfcp.13240726.0001.001.

The API returns one or more peer review entities. A request with no parameter or more than one parameter returns status 400. If no matching peer review information is found, the API returns status 404.

Downloadable CSV file

For bulk access, PRISM metadata can also be downloaded as a CSV file: https://memo.doabooks.org/file/oapen/DOAB_peerreview.csv.

The file is updated daily and includes DOAB book metadata together with related PRISM peer review fields, such as the PRISM ID, review type, review stage, anonymity, reviewer type, and publisher information.

Who uses our metadata?

Below is a list of known organisations using DOAB’s metadata:

AccessOn
BASE
CloudSource OA
EBSCO Discovery Service
Europeana
Ex Libris Alma
Ex Libris Primo
Ex Libris Summon
GOBI
Google Scholar
Library of Congress
National Digital Library of India
OCLC WorldCat
OpenAPC
Open Syllabus
ProQuest (Serials Solutions)
PubScholar (Chinese Academy of Sciences)
Sylla
Zendy

Please contact us if your organisation uses our metadata and wishes to be listed.