text: The Spectral Database for Organic Compounds (SDBS) is a free online searchable database hosted by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in Japan, that contains spectral data for ca 34,000 organic molecules. The database is available in English and in Japanese and it includes six types of spectra: laser Raman spectra, electron ionization mass spectra (EI-MS), Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra, H nuclear magnetic resonance  (H-NMR) spectra, C nuclear magnetic resonance (C-NMR) spectra and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra. The construction of the database started in 1982. Most of the spectra were acquired and recorded in AIST and some of the collections are still being updated. Since 1997, the database can be accessed free of charge, but its use requires agreeing to a disclaimer; the total accumulated number of times accessed reached 550 million by the end of January, 2015.