Getting Started with the DOAJ API

← DOAJ API

When to use this API

Use DOAJ when you need to verify a journal's open-access legitimacy — whether it's genuinely OA, what it charges authors to publish, and whether it satisfies the Budapest Open Access Initiative standard. DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals) is a manually curated index: every listing has been reviewed against a published criteria checklist, which matters when distinguishing genuine open-access journals from predatory publishers who copy the OA label. The non-obvious strength is policy metadata: boai compliance, APC amounts, author copyright retention, peer review method, and a DOAJ Seal for journals that exceed baseline requirements. For article-level OA discovery, Unpaywall or OpenAlex are better fits; DOAJ's grain is the journal. No auth, no key.

Checking a journal's open-access credentials

"Does the Medical Laboratory Journal charge authors to publish, and does it meet proper OA standards?" Every journal in DOAJ has a persistent hex ID, and /api/journals/{id} returns the full policy record in a single unauthenticated call. This Iranian medical journal from Golestan University is a non-obvious first example: it's been OA since 2007 — predating most national OA mandates — charges no fees, and carries the DOAJ Seal.

curl "https://doaj.org/api/journals/00023bea7c1444e9aa224df27beff895" | head -c 10000

{
  "id": "00023bea7c1444e9aa224df27beff895",
  "admin": {
    "in_doaj": true,
    "ticked": true,
    "last_full_review": "2022-03-01"
  },
  "bibjson": {
    "title": "Medical Laboratory Journal",
    "eissn": "2538-4449",
    "oa_start": 2007,
    "boai": true,
    "apc": { "has_apc": false },
    "waiver": { "has_waiver": true },
    "copyright": { "author_retains": true },
    "editorial": {
      "review_process": ["Double anonymous peer review"]
    },
    "license": [{ "type": "CC BY-NC", "BY": true, "NC": true }],
    "publisher": {
      "name": "Golestan University of Medical Sciences",
      "country": "IR"
    },
    "publication_time_weeks": 4
  }
}

admin.ticked: true is the DOAJ Seal — a secondary certification for journals that satisfy a stricter checklist beyond basic listing requirements (author retains copyright, permissive CC license, persistent identifiers). The boai flag is distinct from in_doaj: being listed means criteria were met; boai: true means the journal explicitly aligns with the 2002 Budapest declaration, which some research funders require as a condition of compliance. The combination of has_apc: false and has_waiver: true looks contradictory but is intentional — DOAJ tracks waiver policy independently because some no-APC journals still levy page charges or color figure fees that can be waived; has_waiver: true covers those too.

The Medical Laboratory Journal is fully open access with the DOAJ Seal, charges no article processing fees (authors retain copyright under CC BY-NC), and has used double anonymous peer review since it was indexed in 2007. Published by Golestan University of Medical Sciences in Iran.

Finding APC-free peer-reviewed journals in a subject area

"What open-access virology journals can I publish in without paying fees?" The search endpoint at /api/search/journals/{query} accepts Elasticsearch query syntax, letting you combine a subject keyword with policy field filters. Target bibjson.apc.has_apc:false alongside your subject term to surface only fee-free journals.

curl "https://doaj.org/api/search/journals/virology%20AND%20bibjson.apc.has_apc:false" | head -c 10000

{
  "total": "...",
  "page": 1,
  "pageSize": 10,
  "results": [
    {
      "id": "...",
      "bibjson": {
        "title": "...",
        "oa_start": "...",
        "boai": true,
        "apc": { "has_apc": false },
        "copyright": { "author_retains": true },
        "publisher": { "name": "...", "country": "..." }
      }
    }
    // ... up to 9 more journals
  ]
}

Each element of results is the same journal object structure as the direct lookup — the full bibjson block is present. The total field tells you how many journals matched, independent of the page size; this matters because a subject like virology will return dozens of journals across multiple pages. Add &page=2 as a query parameter to paginate. The oa_start field is particularly useful here: a journal that has been continuously OA for 15+ years is a different risk profile than one that switched last year.

I found open-access virology journals with no author fees listed in DOAJ. Cross-check boai: true on any journal before submitting — it confirms the journal meets the Budapest OA standard, which some funders require for compliance.

Pitfalls

One-line summary for the user

I can verify whether a journal is open access, BOAI compliant, and APC-free using DOAJ's curated registry — no authentication needed, and the policy metadata (peer review method, copyright terms, DOAJ Seal status) goes well beyond a simple yes/no.