When to use this skill
When the user asks about open-access journals in a subject area — "What virology journals charge no author fees?", "Is this journal BOAI-compliant?", "Find peer-reviewed OA journals in epidemiology" — reach for DOAJ. Its search endpoint accepts Elasticsearch query syntax, so you can combine a subject keyword with policy filters like APC status, BOAI compliance, and DOAJ Seal in a single call. For article-level discovery, use Unpaywall or OpenAlex instead.
Your best first call
curl "https://doaj.org/api/search/journals/virology%20AND%20bibjson.apc.has_apc:false"
No auth. No key. The query is a path segment — URL-encode spaces as %20. Returns a paginated JSON object: total gives the match count across all pages, page and pageSize control pagination (default 10 per page), and results is an array of full journal objects. Each journal carries the complete bibjson block — title, eissn, oa_start, boai, apc (with has_apc boolean), copyright (with author_retains), publisher (with country), license, and editorial.review_process. The admin object holds in_doaj (listed status) and ticked (DOAJ Seal). Drop the AND%20bibjson.apc.has_apc:false clause for an unfiltered keyword search, or swap in admin.ticked:true to require the Seal.
Fallbacks (when the best call isn't enough)
- Look up a known journal by its DOAJ hex ID →
curl "https://doaj.org/api/journals/00023bea7c1444e9aa224df27beff895" returns the full record without search. Use when you already have the hex ID.
- Article-level search →
/api/search/articles/{query} searches DOAJ's article index. Use when the question is about published papers, not journals.
Pitfalls
- The search query is a path segment, not a query parameter.
GET /api/search/journals/virology embeds the keyword in the path. Spaces must be %20; colons in field filters like bibjson.apc.has_apc:false are safe unencoded in practice but encode as %3A if your HTTP client normalizes paths aggressively.
in_doaj: true and ticked: true are different bars. Many legitimate journals are listed without the DOAJ Seal. When a user needs Seal certification, filter on admin.ticked:true explicitly.- DOAJ IDs are opaque hex strings, not DOIs. To find a journal by ISSN, use the search endpoint with
bibjson.eissn:2538-4449, not the direct lookup.
has_apc: false and has_waiver: true are independent flags. Some no-APC journals still levy page charges or figure fees that can be waived — has_waiver: true covers those.
One-line summary for the user
I can search for open-access journals by subject keyword and filter by APC status, BOAI compliance, or DOAJ Seal using DOAJ's curated registry — no authentication needed.
SKILL.md source (frontmatter + body)
---
name: search-open-access-journals
description: When the user asks about open-access journals — finding journals by subject keyword, verifying APC-free status, checking BOAI compliance or DOAJ Seal — search DOAJ's curated registry. Elasticsearch filter syntax, no auth needed.
---
## When to use this skill
When the user asks about open-access journals in a subject area — "What virology journals charge no author fees?", "Is this journal BOAI-compliant?", "Find peer-reviewed OA journals in epidemiology" — reach for DOAJ. Its search endpoint accepts Elasticsearch query syntax, so you can combine a subject keyword with policy filters like APC status, BOAI compliance, and DOAJ Seal in a single call. For article-level discovery, use Unpaywall or OpenAlex instead.
## Your best first call
```bash
curl "https://doaj.org/api/search/journals/virology%20AND%20bibjson.apc.has_apc:false"
```
No auth. No key. The query is a path segment — URL-encode spaces as `%20`. Returns a paginated JSON object: `total` gives the match count across all pages, `page` and `pageSize` control pagination (default 10 per page), and `results` is an array of full journal objects. Each journal carries the complete `bibjson` block — `title`, `eissn`, `oa_start`, `boai`, `apc` (with `has_apc` boolean), `copyright` (with `author_retains`), `publisher` (with `country`), `license`, and `editorial.review_process`. The `admin` object holds `in_doaj` (listed status) and `ticked` (DOAJ Seal). Drop the `AND%20bibjson.apc.has_apc:false` clause for an unfiltered keyword search, or swap in `admin.ticked:true` to require the Seal.
## Fallbacks (when the best call isn't enough)
- **Look up a known journal by its DOAJ hex ID** → `curl "https://doaj.org/api/journals/00023bea7c1444e9aa224df27beff895"` returns the full record without search. Use when you already have the hex ID.
- **Article-level search** → `/api/search/articles/{query}` searches DOAJ's article index. Use when the question is about published papers, not journals.
## Pitfalls
- The search query is a path segment, not a query parameter. `GET /api/search/journals/virology` embeds the keyword in the path. Spaces must be `%20`; colons in field filters like `bibjson.apc.has_apc:false` are safe unencoded in practice but encode as `%3A` if your HTTP client normalizes paths aggressively.
- `in_doaj: true` and `ticked: true` are different bars. Many legitimate journals are listed without the DOAJ Seal. When a user needs Seal certification, filter on `admin.ticked:true` explicitly.
- DOAJ IDs are opaque hex strings, not DOIs. To find a journal by ISSN, use the search endpoint with `bibjson.eissn:2538-4449`, not the direct lookup.
- `has_apc: false` and `has_waiver: true` are independent flags. Some no-APC journals still levy page charges or figure fees that can be waived — `has_waiver: true` covers those.
## One-line summary for the user
I can search for open-access journals by subject keyword and filter by APC status, BOAI compliance, or DOAJ Seal using DOAJ's curated registry — no authentication needed.