Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy directly relates Chinese philosophy to other philosophical traditions, covering all subfields of philosophy. Most uniquely, Dao does not only focus on the comparison of Chinese and Western philosophy; it also publishes articles on the relation between Chinese philosophy and other Asian philosophies – such as Indian, Japanese, and Korean philosophy - and between Chinese philosophy and African and Islamic philosophy. Dao is thus a truly international and multicultural journal, which is also reflected by the various nationalities of the board members and the contributors to the journal.

In addition to high-quality research articles on comparative philosophy and articles on its theories and methodologies, Dao also publishes book reviews in the area of Chinese and comparative philosophy. Dao is in fact the only journal that regularly publishes reviews of books in Chinese, as well as full-length articles reviewing works of contemporary philosophers in China.