| Type | Publisher, service provider |
|---|---|
| Industry | Publishing, internet services |
| Genre | Applied ethics, classics, philosophy, religious studies, related disciplines |
| Founded | Bowling Green State University, 1966 |
| Headquarters | Charlottesville, Virginia, United States |
| Products | Academic journals, conference proceedings, anthologies, reference works, databases, digital media |
| Services | Membership management, Content digitization & hosting |
| Website | www.pdcnet.org |
The Philosophy Documentation Center is a non-profit publisher and resource center dedicated to providing affordable access to a wide range of materials in applied ethics, classics, philosophy, religious studies, and related disciplines. It publishes academic journals, conference proceedings, anthologies, and specialized reference works, often in cooperation with scholarly and professional associations. It also provides membership management and electronic publishing services, and hosts electronic journals, series, and other publications from several countries.
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The Philosophy Documentation Center was established in 1966 at Bowling Green State University in Ohio to manage the publication of specialized reference works in philosophy. It was founded by two members of the university philosophy department, Ramona Cormier and Richard Lineback, who recognized a need to improve access to the growing body of philosophical literature in English and other languages. Its first publication was The Philosopher’s Index, which provided bibliographic listings, indexed by subject and author, of recently published journal articles in philosophy. In 1970 PDC assumed responsibility for the continuing publication of the Directory of American Philosophers and the International Directory of Philosophy and Philosophers, establishing itself as a primary source of information on philosophical activity in dozens of countries.
In the 1970s PDC began publishing a series of specialized research bibliographies that provided systematic overviews of the primary and secondary work of major philosophers. At the time such bibliographies were essential reference works, and over the years the PDC has published over 20 of them. Notable philosophers covered by such works include Aquinas, Bergson, Collingwood, Heidegger, Hobbes, Husserl, Kristeva, Ortega y Gasset, Peirce, Santayana, Sartre, Vico, and Whitehead.
In 1975 the PDC published its first journal, Philosophy Research Archives, in cooperation with the American Philosophical Association and the Canadian Philosophical Association. This project was published entirely in microfiche format in an effort to overcome the space limitations of traditional journals. It was one of the first experiments with non-traditional formats in journal publishing. In 1978 PDC began taking on other journals, and PDC’s work on journals and other serial publications has grown in increments since that time. PDC now produces dozens of print and electronic journals in philosophy and neighboring disciplines.
In the late 1990s PDC started taking on administrative and publishing responsibilities for professional associations and scholarly societies. The scope of this work has increased since that time, as PDC has expanded into applied ethics, classics, and religious studies. PDC now manages thousands of memberships for eighteen different organizations. This work includes conference registration services, digital work flow management, and authenticated access to electronic resources.
In 2001 PDC relocated its operations and most of its staff to Charlottesville, Virginia as a consequence of increasing technical demands of this expanding range of services.[1]
In 1979 PDC launched dial-up access to The Philosopher's Index database in cooperation with DIALOG; Philosopher's Index was made available on CD-ROM in 1990. In 1992 PDC published The Logic Works, an instructional software program for introductory logic courses, in cooperation with Prof. Rob Brady. This DOS-based program was easy to use, and a number of versions were published by PDC for 10 years. PDC also published EthicsWorks, a software package for introductory ethics courses, in cooperation with Prof. Robert Pielke. In 1996 PDC partnered with InteLex Corporation to develop POIESIS: Philosophy Online Serials. This project made the content of dozens of print journals accessible in conjunction with print subscriptions. It also allowed for the creation of complete back issue collections of several journals on CD-ROM, including Business Ethics Quarterly, Philosophy & Theology, The Review of Metaphysics, and Teaching Philosophy.
In 2009 PDC launched its eCollection of journals and series from several countries. This collection provides a range of online access options to over 100 titles in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, and other languages. Online access includes all back issues of most publications, and all content is digitized and hosted by PDC. Subscription-based access options generate income to cover production costs and continuing improvements in onlne functionality. PDC has partnered with PORTICO to ensure long term preservation of this collection.
In 2010 PDC launched the International Directory of Philosophy, an online database consolidating the content of the Directory of American Philosophers and the International Directory of Philosophy and Philosophers. This database contains information on university philosophy departments and programs, professional societies, research centers, journals, publishers, and over 28,000 philosophers in 130 countries.
In 2011 PDC launched the Philosophy Research Index, a new indexing database that covers philosophical materials published from the 15th century to the present. It offers faceted searching, automatic translation and social networking functionality, and a visual time line for the display of search results, as well as OpenURL linking to fulltext resources. The goal of the project is to build systematic coverage of philosophical literature in several languages.