What is the Philosophy Documentation Center? The Philosophy Documentation Center is a non-profit publisher and resource center that supports continuing work in core areas of the humanities and social sciences. Its mission is to increase access to the widest possible array of scholarly materials in these areas in a fair and sustainable manner. It was established at Bowling Green State University in Ohio in 1966 to manage the production of specialized reference works in philosophy. Since then its activities have expanded to include the publication and distribution of scholarly journals, conference proceedings, reference works, databases, and other materials in applied ethics, philosophy, religious studies, and related fields. It also provides a variety of membership services for professional associations in these fields. Available services include digitization of journals, books series, and archival collections; budget planning; digital workflow management; secure hosting; and support for a range of both institutional and individual online access options. The PDC has been located in Charlottesville, Virginia since 2001. More information about PDC is available on Wikipedia.
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Are you affiliated with a university or some other organization? No. The Philosophy Documentation Center is an independent non-profit organization. We cover the costs of our operations with income from the services and publications we provide. This independence allows us to focus on the unique research and publishing needs in philosophy and related disciplines, and guarantee that income is reinvested to expand services and improve technology.
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Who does the Philosophy Documentation Center work with? We provide publishing, reference, or membership services for universities, publishers, professional associations, and indpendently published journals in many countries. We develop customized plans for each of our partners to meet a range of needs for distribution, hosting, access, subscription income, membership service, and production support. A complete list of our clients and partners is available here.
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What electronic resources do you offer?

PDC E-Collection
This online collection contains journals, book series, conference proceedings, and other publications from several countries. Coverage of most titles is complete, from volume 1 to the present. Current content and features include:

• over 120 journals, series, conference proceedings, and other publications
• free fulltext search and free page preview
• single document access option
• digital object identifiers (DOIs) for current and archive content
• discovery via Google Scholar, OCLC, ProQuest, EBSCO
• relevant material in many languages
• MORE INFORMATION
For most titles subscription options are available for both individuals and institutions. If we publish or distribute a given journal then we also offer a print + online option. Free trials are available.

POIESIS: Philosophy Online Serials
Now a subset of our E-Collection, this online bundle of philosophy journals and series was established in 1996 in an effort to make journal content from many sources available online to libraries without increasing journal subscription rates. The collection includes two sets of publications: a core set available to all subscribers and a set of optional titles only available in conjunction with a print subscription. The core set contains a fixed number of issues from 27 journals and series. These are generally complete sets or back issues. Another 36 journals or series are available in the optional set, and this set includes both current and back issues of each title. POIESIS is only available for institutions.

International Directory of Philosophy
This database offers the combined content of the Directory of American Philosophers and International Directory of Philosophy and Philosophers. PDC has produced these standard reference works since 1970, and together they provide edited information on over 29,000 philosophers in 130 countries. Coverage includes information in university philosophy departments, research centers, professional societies and associations, philosophy journals, and publishers. Their content is now available on online, with both username / password and IP access. More information about the directories is available here Directory Homepage or here.

Philosophy Research Index
This is an indexing database of bibliographic information on articles, books, reviews, dissertations, and other documents in philosophy. It was developed to increase bibliographic coverage of the known philosophical literature in several western languages. Coverage ranges from the 15th century to the present, with listings for material in over 30 languages. The database contains over one million bibliograpic listings, including:

• 750,000 articles
• 200,000 reviews
• 187,000 monographs
• 20,600 dissertations
• 800 journals and series

Free trial access is available.
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What is the difference between POIESIS and Philosophy Documentation Center's E-Collection? Our E-Collection offers a range of online access options for participating journals and series. We support both IP and username / password authentication for subscription-based access, as well as single document purchase. Access can be provided for libraries, individuals, and/or membership organizations, depending on the needs of each publication. We manage print subscriptipon options for some of these journals, others manage their own. Over 120 titles are currently available in the E-Collection. Post-cancellation access is provided for issues published during the subscription period.
Access to journal content through the E-Collection can replace a print subscription.

The POIESIS service was designed in the mid-1990's to make journals available online to libraries without cost to the journals and without increasing journal subscription rates. In this arrangement libraries must have a subscription to POIESIS, in addition to a print subscription to each journal, to get online access to available issues. About 60 titles are available through POIESIS. This arrangement makes sense for the participating journals as long as libraries maintain print subscriptions. There is no post-cancellation access provision for POIESIS because access is provided in conjunction with print subscriptions.
Access to journal content through POIESIS cannot replace a print susbcription.

Most journals hosted by PDC offer online-only access options and are available through the E-Collection. Some journals still prefer the POIESIS arrangement and we can therefore only provide access under those terms.
[Back to top] Does the Philosophy Documentation Center still publish The Philosopher’s Index? No. While PDC published The Philosopher’s Index for many years, we have not been its publisher since 1995. The editor, Dr. Richard Lineback, took over as publisher that year. All questions about The Philosopher's Index should be addressed to him.

Please note: our bibliographic database, Philosophy Research Index, is a separate resource with different scope of coverage (15th century to the present). The purpose of this database is to increase bibliographic coverage of the known philosophical literature in several western languages. The long-term goal is to build complete coverage of all philosophical literature.
[Back to top] What kind of publications are available from the Philosophy Documentation Center? The Philosophy Documentation Center specializes in the production and distribution of journals, conference proceedings, society publications, and reference works in print and electronic formats. Most of these publications are available online to institutions and individuals on a subscription basis. In some cases they are available as benefits of membership in a professional society or association.

Titles available from the Philosophy Documentation Center include:

• American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly
• The American Journal of Semiotics
• Ancient Philosophy
• Augustinian Studies
• Augustinianum
• Business and Professional Ethics Journal
• Business Ethics Quarterly
• The Chesterton Review
• Chiasmi International
• Directory of American Philosophers
• Environmental Ethics
• Environmental Philosophy
• Epoché: A Journal for the History of Philosophy
• Études Phénoménologiques
• Faith and Philosophy
• Fichte-Studien
• Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal
• Grazer Philosophische Studien (volumes 1-60)
• Idealistic Studies
• Inquiry: Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines
• International Directory of Philosophy
• International Journal of Applied Philosophy
• International Philosophical Quarterly
• International Studies in Philosophy
• Journal of Catholic Social Thought
• Journal of Philosophical Research
• The Leibniz Review
• The Modern Schoolman
• The Monist
• The New Scholasticism
• The Owl of Minerva
• Philosophical Inquiry
• Philosophical Topics
• Philosophy Now
• Philosophy Research Index
• Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association
• Proceedings of the International Association for Business and Society
• Proceedings of the Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy
• Proceedings of the Twenty-Fisrt World Congress of Philosophy
• Proceedings of the XXII World Congress of Philosophy
• Process Studies
• Questions: Philosophy for Young People
• Radical Philosophy Review
• The Ruffin Series in Business Ethics
• Semiotics: The Proceedings of the Semiotic Society of America
• Sign Systems Studies
• Social Philosophy Today
• Social Theory and Practice
• Studia Neoaristotelica
• Studia Phaenomenologica
• Symposium: Canadian Journal of Continental Philosophy
• Teaching Ethics
• Teaching Philosophy
• Theoria: International Journal for Theory, History, and Foundations of Science
• Thought: Fordham University Quarterly
There are dozens of others from several countries.
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Are these publications freely accessible or is some form of payment required? We provide free searching of all content and a free preview of the first page of each document on our site. Full access to the is provided with a subscription or membership in a professional organization.

Subscription or dues income helps each publication covers the costs of production and supports continuing improvements to our online systems. Most of the societies, associations, or academic departments that sponsor these publications also depend on this income to support conferences, travel grants, awards, and other activities.

We continually explore other funding options, including grants, bequests, institutional subsidies, and endowment funding as alternatives to subscriptions or dues income. We are open to exploring any arrangement that would allow us to make publications accessible without subscriptions or dues payments, as long as this can be done in a sustainable manner without harming the journal or its sponsor.
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Is the content of online journals on your site identical to the print content? Yes, and we provide page images for all documents if possible.

In some cases we have not yet been able to locate clean copies of journal issues to create archival quality scans. In these cases we provide HTML, and add page images once clean copies in suitable condition are located.
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Why is online access to some journals available to institutions but not individuals? Decisions about online access options are made by each journal or its publisher. There are two main reasons why a journal might only permit access to institutions but not individuals:

1. Some journals are sponsored by membership organizations that include print subscriptions as benefits of membership. Before these journals can offer online access to individuals, they must first decide what benefits of membership they want to offer their members. Some groups prefer to send print copies to their members and therefore do not want to offer online access to individuals.

2. Some publishers are primarily focused on reaching users at libraries, and therefore only give us permission to provide access to their journals to institutions.
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If our library cancels an ejournal subscription, do we retain access to content published during the subscription period? Yes. Post-cancellation access to journal content published during the subscription period can be provided by PORTICO. Alternatively, we can provide a DVD with PDFs of these issues for a modest charge to cover the preparation and shipping cost.

Please note however that this does not include journal content published prior to the subscription period. Your library will lose access to this material unless it makes a separate purchase. If your library previously subscribed to the print version of a journal published by the Philosophy Documentation Center, we will account for this in the purchase arrangement for the backfile.
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How are your publications distributed or discovered? We distribute many different kinds of print and electronic publications. Distribution in all formats is supported by international sales representatives and subscription agents, as well as representatives in particular countries or territories around the world.

All electronic publications on our site can be easily discovered online. All full-text is indexed by Google Scholar, and EBSCO, ProQuest, and OCLC discovery services. We provide free full-text for all visitors to the site and a free preview of the first page of each document. Article level metadata for all electronic publications is provided by arrangement with distributors such as J-Gate and specialized web sites such as PhilPapers.

Orders for online access to our publications from institutions, membership organizations, or individuals are managed by our customer support team. Orders for our print publications are filled from our mail room, and we hold print inventory on site as needed for this purpose. While we provide online access to all issues of our publications, in some cases we arrange for additional online access to back issues through JSTOR. Distribution of older print isuses is supported by Periodicals Service Company.

We generally do not distribute the full text of our electronic publications through aggregators or database vendors because the arrangements offered generally do not make sense for the organizations that sponsor each publication. But each case is different, and when such arrangements have made sense from the sponsor's perspective we have negotiated appropriate licensing agreements with EBSCO, Gale, ProQuest, and others.
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Do you provide distribution services for other publishers? Yes. We have been doing this for many years, and hold print inventory on site for this purpose. We also provide hosting and distribution services for electronic publications in philosophy, applied ethics, religious studies, and related disciplines. Please contact us for more information about this.
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Do you only publish materials in English No, we publish materials in several languages, and we have been publishng material in other languages since the 1970's.

Most of the work we publish is in English because English reaches the largest number of readers. But we also host scholarly publications in German, Spanish, French, Italian, and other languages.
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Do you provide online services for professional societies or associations? Yes. We provide a range of electronic publishing, hosting, and membership services for many professional organizations in several fields. The services we provide vary depending on the needs of each organization. Groups we currently work with include:

• American Association of Philosophy Teachers
• The American Catholic Philosophical Association
• Ancient Philosophy Society
• Association for Feminist Ethics and Social Theory
• Caribbean Philosophical Association • The Hegel Society of America
• International Association for Business and Society
• International Development Ethics Association
• International Society for Ethics and Information Technology
• International Society for Neoplatonic Studies
• International Society for the Social Studies
• The Karl Rahner Society
• North American Society for Social Philosophy
• Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization
• Radical Philosophy Association
• Semiotic Society of America
• Society for Business Ethics
• Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy
• The Society for Philosophy and Technology
• Society for Philosophy in the Contemporary World
[Back to top] Can you help our organization get our publications into electronic format? Yes. We can digitize all issues of any print journal, book series, or archive. This work is done on site in our offices and you are welcome to visit and see how the process works. We develop a plan for each publication to help manage the modest costs, and we can host the resulting collections and make them available online in a manner that best suits your needs. Publications we have digitized include:

The Acorn

American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly

The American Journal of Semiotics

Ancient Philosophy

Augustinian Studies

Augustinianum

Bowling Green Studies in Applied Philosophy

Business and Professional Ethics Journal

Business Ethics: The Magazine of Corporate Responsibility

Business Ethics Quarterly

Cahiers du Centre d’Études Phénoménologiques

Canadian Journal of Philosophy

The Chesterton Review (in progress)

Chiasmi International

Chôra: Revue d’Études Anciennes et Médiévales

Cogito

Croatian Journal of Philosophy

Demonstrating Philosophy

Environmental Ethics

Environmental Philosophy

Epoché: A Journal for the History of Philosophy

Études Phénoménologiques

Faith and Philosophy

Fichte-Studien

Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal

The Harvard Review of Philosophy

Heidegger Studies

Idealistic Studies

Inquiry: Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines

International Corporate Responsibility Series

International Journal of Applied Philosophy

International Philosophical Quarterly

International Studies in Philosophy

International Studies in Philosophy Monograph Series

Irish Philosophical Journal

Journal for Peace and Justice Studies

Journal of Catholic Social Thought

Journal of Islamic Philosophy

Journal of Philosophical Research

The Journal of Philosophy

Journal of Philosophy: A Cross-Disciplinary Inquiry

The Leibniz Review

The Lonergan Review

Levinas Studies

The Modern Schoolman

The Monist

New Nietzsche Studies

The New Scholasticism

New Vico Studies

The New Yearbook for Phenomenology and Phenomenological Philosophy

Newman Studies Journal

The Owl of Minerva

The Personalist Forum

Philo: A Journal of Philosophy

The Philosophers' Magazine

Philosophical Inquiry

Philosophical Studies (Ireland)

Philosophical Topics

Die Philosophin

Philosophy and History

Philosophy and Phenomenological Research

Philosophy and Theology

Philosophy in the Contemporary World

Philosophy Now

Philosophy Research Index (database)

Polish Journal of Philosophy

Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association

Proceedings of the International Association for Business and Society

The Proceedings of the Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy

The Proceedings of the Twenty-First World Congress of Philosophy

Process Studies

Professional Ethics

Questions: Philosophy for Young People

Radical Philosophy Review

Radical Philosophy Review of Books

Radical Philosophy Today

The Review of Metaphysics

The Ruffin Series of Business Ethics

The Ruffin Series of the Society for Business Ethics

The Saint Augustine Lecture Series

Schutzian Research

Semiotics: The Proceedings of the Semiotic Society of America (forthcoming)

Social Philosophy Today

Social Theory and Practice

The Southern Journal of Philosophy

Southwest Philosophy Review

The Southwestern Journal of Philosophy

Spiritual Goods: Faith Traditions and the Practice of Business

Studi Internazionali di Filosofia

Studia Neoaristotelica

Studia Phaenomenologica

Studies in Practial Philosophy

Symosium: Canadian Journal of Continental Philosophy

Teaching Ethics

Teaching Philosophy

Theoria: An International Journal for Theory, History and Foundations of Science

Thought: Fordham University Quarterly

Tulane Studies in Philosophy

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Do you sponsor conferences or similar events? No. We have exhibits at many professional conferences, including all meetings of the American Philosophical Association, and we have sometimes supported events with the publication of conference proceedings. But we do not provide funding or grants to support conferences or similar events.

We do, however, co-sponsor the Award for Excellence and Innovation in Philosophy Programs with the American Philosophical Association.
[Back to top] How many people work at the Philosophy Documentation Center? Nine of us work here on a daily basis:

George Leaman, Director

Pam Swope, Accounting & Client Services

Andrea Grooms, Memberships & Customer Service

Susanne Mueller-Grote, Electronic Publishing & Marketing

Tasha Byers, Electronic Text Preparation

Greg Swope, Typesetting & Production

Diana Malsky, Typesetting & Design

Sue Harlow, Fulfillment & Shipping

Beth Stombock, Directories Information

This does not include our technical team and text editors working on specific projects.
[Back to top] Do you hire students for work on your databases or other projects? Sometimes. When we need philosophers for a given project we try to hire graduate or undergraduate philosophy students in the Charlottesville area.
[Back to top] I am not a subscriber but want to purchase a single document online. How do I do this? Most publications on our site now permit non-subscribers to purchase single documents online. Instructions and pricing are available on each document page for publications that permit this.

To locate specific documents follow the table of contents listings by volume and issue to the document of interest to you, then click "view" to see the page for that document. Alternatively, enter the title of the article in the search box here, then click "view" to see the page for that document.
[Back to top] My university subscribes to some PDC journals, but not the ones I have personally subscribed to.
How do I switch from the university account to my membership or personal account? In the top left of the navigation bar click on “Your Account”. You will see a short list of administrative links that are provided for your librarians. Under these links you will the following text:

"This is an institutional account. Please contact your administrator for maintenance. If you want to switch to an individual account (username / password access) please click here."

When you click "here" you will be taken to the log in screen, where you can enter the username and password for your personal account.
[Back to top] What do I need to know when I set up my username and password?

Usernames and passwords are case sensitive (cAsE sEnSiTiVe).

Passwords can be changed.

Usernames CANNOT be changed.

If you forget your password you can request a new password.

If you forget your username you can request a reminder of your username.

Keep your username and password secure!
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