Philosophy Documentation Center

What Philosophy Documentation Center does

Philosophy Documentation Center provides book publishing services. They offer journals, book series, conference proceedings, reference works, and other materials in philosophy, applied ethics, and religious studies. They provide a variety of marketing services in support of publications, professional organizations, and scholarly.

Name

Philosophy Documentation Center

Legal name

Philosophy Documentation Center

Website

https://www.pdcnet.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1966

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Philosophy Documentation Center is a publisher of journals, book series, and electronic publishing services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Scholarly Publishing / Academic Publishing

NAICS

Periodical Publishers (51312), Periodical Publishers (513120), Book Publishers (51313), Book Publishers (513130), Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721), Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731), Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYMPAJABAC

Academic & Scholarly Journals Publishing (Peer-Reviewed)

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Publishing (Books, News, Magazines)/Educational & Academic Publishing (Textbooks, Scholarly, STM)

SECONDARYEDAGAFAK

Scholarly Society & Association Publishing

Education/Educational Publishing & Learning Content/Academic & Scholarly Publishing (Journals, Monographs)

SECONDARYMPAJABAK

Scholarly Societies & Conference Proceedings Publishing

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Publishing (Books, News, Magazines)/Educational & Academic Publishing (Textbooks, Scholarly, STM)

SECONDARYEDAGAFAL

Conference Proceedings & Research Reports Publishing

Education/Educational Publishing & Learning Content/Academic & Scholarly Publishing (Journals, Monographs)

SECONDARYEDAGAFAE

Humanities & Arts Scholarly Publishing

Education/Educational Publishing & Learning Content/Academic & Scholarly Publishing (Journals, Monographs)

SECONDARYEDAGAFAH

Education Research & Pedagogy Scholarly Publishing

Education/Educational Publishing & Learning Content/Academic & Scholarly Publishing (Journals, Monographs)

Keywords

• Scholarly publishing services
• Academic journal subscriptions
• Electronic publishing platform
• Learned society management
• Philosophy reference databases

Headquarters

HQ city

Charlottesville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Institutional Subscriptions: IP-authenticated institutional subscriptions providing campus-wide access to the E-Collection and individual titles. Institutions can purchase single titles or bundles (Complete E-Collection with 270+ titles, PhilPapers with Fulltext with 100+ titles, Collection Development Bundle with 50+ titles, POIESIS with 29 titles, World Congress of Philosophy Collection with 250+ volumes, Zeta Books Collection with 120+ volumes). Multi-site and consortia pricing available.
2. Individual Subscriptions: Personal subscriptions for individuals with username/password authentication. Individual access to publications via personal subscription or purchase. Special bundle options available for complete E-Collection access.
3. Society Membership Access: Society members (individuals or institutions) access publications via membership in learned societies or associations. Authentication by username/password for individuals and IP for institutions.
4. One-time Purchases: Single document purchase options for non-subscribers. Zeta Books Collection purchase option for $5,000 (with PDFs delivered for local hosting or campus-wide online access). Archive/subscription purchases for specific volumes (e.g., $30 individual, $75 institutional for conference proceedings).
5. Membership Management Services: Customized services for learned societies including dues collection, membership tracking, online directories, conference registrations, and publication distribution management.
6. Conference Registration Services: Conference registration services for professional meetings including fee collection, payment tracking, credit card/PayPal/check processing, and participant management.
7. Journal Advertising: Advertisement placement in select journals on paid or exchange basis. Rates vary from $75-200 per full page per issue depending on journal and number of issues.
8. Mailing List Sales: Sale of mailing lists with contact information for philosophers (30,000+ in 130 countries), philosophy departments, centers, institutes, societies, journals, and publishers. Standard and custom lists available.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The Philosophy Documentation Center is a non-profit scholarly publisher founded in 1966 in Charlottesville, Virginia, that publishes scholarly journals, book series, and conference proceedings in philosophy and related fields. It operates an electronic publishing platform (E-Collection) hosting 270+ journals and 210,000+ documents, and provides membership management, subscription management, and conference services to academic institutions and learned societies.

Product overview

Philosophy Documentation Center operates as a specialized academic publisher offering a comprehensive portfolio of scholarly resources and services for the philosophical community. The core product is the E-Collection, an online database hosting 270+ scholarly journals, book series, and conference proceedings in philosophy, applied ethics, religious studies, and related humanities. This platform is supplemented by specialized bundles including PhilPapers with Fulltext (100+ titles), the Collection Development Bundle (50+ titles), POIESIS Philosophy Online Serials (29 titles), the World Congress of Philosophy Collection (250+ volumes), the Inter-American Congress of Philosophy Collection, and the Zeta Books Collection (120+ volumes). Supporting the publication infrastructure, PDC provides electronic publishing and hosting services, production and typesetting, membership management services, marketing services, conference exhibits and registrations, subscription fulfillment, mailing lists, and journal advertising. The company also maintains the International Directory of Philosophy as a reference database. All offerings are priced in U.S. dollars with institutional, individual, and society membership access models.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• E-Collection Electronic Publishing Platform Online platform that hosts and delivers 270+ scholarly philosophy journals and 210,000+ documents to academic libraries and individual subscribers; serves as the company's flagship digital publishing and discovery product.
• Institutional Subscription Services Subscription management service that grants academic libraries, universities, and research institutions access to the full portfolio of philosophy journals on the E-Collection platform.
• Individual Subscription Services Subscription service that provides individual philosophers, faculty, and students with access to philosophy journals and content on the E-Collection platform.
• Membership Management Services Administrative service that manages member databases, dues, and renewals for affiliated learned societies and professional philosophy associations on their behalf.
• Conference Services Conference hosting, logistics, and management services for academic philosophy conferences and society meetings, including proceedings publication.
• Scholarly Journal Publishing Editorial and publishing service that produces scholarly philosophy journals, book series, and conference proceedings for authors and the academic community.

Quantifiable outcome

• 210,000+ articles, reviews, and documents accessible through the platform
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration12 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• PORTICOcoreTechnology or IntegrationLong-term preservation partner for electronic format content. PDC's hosted publications are preserved through PORTICO's digital preservation services.
• CLOCKSS ArchivecoreTechnology or IntegrationLong-term preservation partner ensuring electronic content is preserved in distributed archive system.
• CrossRefcoreTechnology or IntegrationPDC supports CrossRef DOIs, Cited-By Linking, and participates in CrossMark version identification service.
• Makrolog Content ManagementcoreTechnology or IntegrationTechnical support provider for PDC's digitization and electronic publishing work. Located in Germany.
• PhilPapers FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPDC is a partner with the Center for Digital Philosophy in maintaining PhilPapers, the premier philosophy research index with 2.8 million listings and 350,000 registered users. PDC has contributed hundreds of thousands of bibliographic records. PhilPapers with Full Text bundles access to all issues of major philosophy journals.
• EBSCO Information ServicesmajorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPDC content is covered by EBSCO discovery services for wider distribution to library customers.
• ProQuestmajorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPDC content is covered by ProQuest discovery services for distribution to academic institutions.
• OCLCmajorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPDC content is integrated with OCLC discovery services for worldwide library distribution.
• International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPDC supports FISP, the organization overseeing World Congress of Philosophy proceedings. PDC digitizes and provides online access to World Congress collections.
• Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPDC supports the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEPIA) as part of its commitment to essential philosophical projects.
• TeachPhilosophy101minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPDC supports TeachPhilosophy101, an educational initiative for philosophy teaching.
• American Philosophical AssociationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPDC co-sponsors the Prize for Excellence and Innovation in Philosophy Programs with APA. PDC hosts exhibits at APA meetings and provides conference services.
• Zeta BooksmajorTechnology or IntegrationPDC provides online access to all Zeta Books publications including journals, series, and monographs. The Zeta Books Collection offers 120+ volumes for institutional acquisition.
• Les Presses de l'Université LavalminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPublished proceedings of the Seventh Inter-American Congress of Philosophy (1967-1968) in two volumes.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• JSTOR: Operates a digital library hosting scholarly journals and primary sources across the humanities and social sciences. Directly competes with PDC's E-Collection for institutional philosophy and humanities subscriptions.
• Project MUSE: Scholarly hosting platform distributing humanities and social science journals to libraries. Competes with PDC for society publishing contracts and institutional philosophy content.
• PhilPapers / Center for Digital Philosophy: Premier philosophy research index closely linked to PDC; shares a strategic partnership and jointly offers PhilPapers with Fulltext bundles. Comparable in serving the same scholarly community with overlapping infrastructure.

Broad incumbents

• Cambridge University Press: Large academic publisher with extensive philosophy journals, book series, and reference works. Competes broadly in philosophy publishing while serving many other disciplines.
• Oxford University Press: Major academic publisher with deep philosophy, ethics, and religion lists, plus university press monograph output. Competes with PDC for both journal content and hosting clients.
• Springer Nature: Global academic publisher with significant philosophy and humanities portfolio under Palgrave and Springer imprints. Competes in scholarly publishing across humanities and social sciences.
• Wiley: Multinational publisher with humanities and social science journal programs. Competes for institutional subscriptions and society publishing partnerships.
• Taylor & Francis: Routledge imprint publishes extensively in philosophy and humanities journals and book series. Direct overlap with PDC in philosophy and applied ethics content.
• De Gruyter: Academic publisher with a strong humanities program, including philosophy journals and book series. Competes for society journals and monograph distribution in continental philosophy.

Emerging players

• EBSCO Information Services: Discovery and aggregation service that also distributes scholarly content to libraries. Functions partly as PDC's distribution partner and partly as competitor for library spending.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/pdcnet.org
• Xx.com/phildoccenter
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/philosophy-documentation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Philosophy Documentation Center